The play, by Mickey Friedman and directed by John Hadden, will run on the BTF Main Stage May 13-24. Cooper will play the famous black author and educator William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868-1963), who fought for and wrote about African American rights and equality. His most famous work was "The Souls of Black Folk," which was published 100 years ago, in 1903. The play will sample the man's various writings. Du Bois (pronounced "doo boyz") was born in Berkshire county.

In other news, Jessica Walter, Lois Nettleton, Keir Dullea, Jennifer Van Dyke, Kaleo Griffith and Robert Lunney will join Richard Chamberlain in The Stillborn Lover by Timothy Findley, running July 8-26. The play, directed by Martin Rabbett, stars television and Broadway star Chamberlain as a Canadian ambassador, Harry Raymond. In the play, the diplomat's life is coming to a point, what with "a dead male prostitute in Moscow, a treacherous friend about to become the new Prime Minister and a desperate secret about to be revealed."