The staging of the new 70-minute Churchill, directed by James MacDonald, is set to open at the NYTW's East Village venue Dec. 7 for a run through Jan. 16, 2005.

In A Number, a son discovers that he is one of a number of clones produced by his father. Michael Gambon played the patriarch opposite Daniel Craig as three of a score of his multiple sons in the world premiere of the work at London's Royal Court Theatre.

Actor-director Shepard is known in theatre mainly as a playwright for such works as True West and his Pulitzer Prize winner Buried Child. The Churchill work will mark the actor's return to the stage after a 30 year absence. In film, he has appeared "Days of Heaven," "The Right Stuff," "Fool for Love," "Crimes of the Heart," "Baby Boom," "Steel Magnolias" and "The Pelican Brief."

Shepard's Fool For Love is scheduled for its Broadway debut at the Roundabout Theatre Company's American Airlines Theatre in 2005 under the direction of original star Ed Harris. A new Shepard work, God of Hell, is currently debuting Off-Broadway with Frank Wood, Randy Quaid, J. Smith-Cameron and Tim Roth.

Roberts played in the recent Off-Broadway revival of Burn This opposite Catherine Keener and Edward Norton. He was also seen in True Love and Nocturne. Other stage credits include Enter the Night, Compleat Female Stage Beauty, Finer Noble Gases and Tatjana in Color. On screen, Roberts appeared in the recent Michael Mayer feature debut "A Home at the End of the World." Director MacDonald has served as associate director of London's Royal Court Theatre since 1992 where he has staged Blasted, 4.48 Psychosis, Hard Fruit, Real Classy Affair, Cleansed, Bailegangaire, Harry and Me, The Changing Room, Simpatico, Peaches, Thyestes, The Terrible Voice of Satan, Hammett's Apprentice and Putting Two and Two Together. He has also directed works at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Almeida Theatre and the Royal National Theatre Studio.

The design team for A Number includes Eugene Lee (scenic), Gabriel Berry (costume), Edward Pierce (lighting) and Darron L. West (sound). Martha Donaldson serves as production stage manager.

Tickets to A Number at New York Theatre Workshop, 79 East 4th Street (between Second Ave. and Bowery) are available by calling (212) 239-6200. For more information, visit www.nytw.org.