The season begins Sept. 27 with Shaffer's Lettice and Lovage, about a larger than life woman who give tours of English mansions, embellishing history as she goes.

Also on the slate are Kenneth Lonergan's play about crime, romance and morality, Lobby Hero (Nov. 1-20); an adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol (Dec. 2-24); Tom Stoppard's Rough Crossing (Jan. 24-Feb. 19, 2006), about a theatrical team taking an ocean cruise to try to wrap up their creative project; Doug Wright's Pulitzer Prize-winning solo-actor play about a singular German transvestite, I Am My Own Wife (Feb. 28-March 26, 2006); Arthur Miller's The Price (April 4-23, 2006), about two brothers going through the detritus of their late father's belongings; Allan Knee's Syncopation (May 2-21, 2006), the two-actor play about ballroom dance partners, Henry and Anna, who "discover how to break from the social expectations of their 1911 environment to live life on their own terms."

For further information and tickets, call the Portland Stage Company box office at (207) 774-0465, or visit www.portlandstage.com.

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Donald Margulies' Dinner With Friends completes the 2004-05 season of Portland Stage Company, now through May 15. Michael Rafkin directs a cast that includes Lisa Barnes, Patricia Dalen, Jeffry Denman and Richard Ward Duffy.