Jeremy B. Cohen directs the work set to start at the Connecticut stage May 18 and open May 26 for a run through June 18. The production, as usual, contains nudity and adult language.

Terrence McNally penned Frankie and Johnny which focuses on the relationship between two working class folks — waitress Frankie and short-order cook Johnny. Spanning the course of their first night together from their first sexual encounter to the next morning's sunrise, the play opens with the aforementioned act.

The surnameless Portia appeared on Broadway in The Ride Down Mt. Morgan and in the Off-Broadway cast of McReele. As a LAByrinth Theatre Company member she has appeared in Our Lady of 121st Street, Dutch Heart of Man, Guinea Pig Solo and In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings.

Clohessy made his Broadway debut in last season's Broadway staging of Twelve Angry Men as Juror #6. He return to Hartford Stage after playing Mitch in 1998's A Streetcar Named Desire. Other credits include Off-Broadway's Rounding Third, Bad Habits and HBO's "Oz."

The play originally ran Off-Broadway with Kathy Bates and Kenneth Welsh in the 1980s and was later made into a film with Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino. Edie Falco and Stanley Tucci originated the roles in the 2002 Joe Mantello Broadway staging with Rosie Perez and Joe Pantoliano taking on the roles for the final two months of the drama.

Tickets to Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune at Hartford Stage, 50 Church Street in downtown Hartford, CT will be available by calling (860) 527-5151. For more information, visit www.hartfordstage.org.