Bower ("Crazy Heart," "The Laramie Project") joins a cast that also includes Academy Award nominee Amy Madigan ("Gone, Baby Gone," "Grey's Anatomy"), Robert Parsons (The Rivalry), Jeff Perry ("Grey’s Anatomy") and Madeline Zima ("Californication," "Heroes").

Peter Levin will stage Shepard's Pulitzer-winning drama, which will run Dec. 8-11. Susan A. Loewenberg produces.

Letts withdrew from Buried Child to replace John Mahoney in the Steppenwolf Theatre Company's production of Enda Walsh's Penelope, which began Dec. 1.

Here's how LATW bills Buried Child: "When Vince brings his girlfriend Shelly home to meet his family, it’s a curious homecoming for the son nobody seems to remember. Violence is never far from the surface as his unexpected return uncovers a deep, dark secret that triggers catastrophe."

Shepard's plays also include Kicking a Dead Horse, True West (Tony and Pulitzer nomination), Curse of the Starving Class, Tongues, Simpatico and Fool for Love (Pulitzer nomination). He earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance in "The Right Stuff," and has appeared in the films "Brothers," "The Assassination of Jesse James…," "The Return," "The Notebook," "Hamlet," "Snow Falling on Cedars," "Steel Magnolias," "The Pelican Brief" and "Crimes of the Heart." All LATW performances are recorded and broadcast on LATW's nationally syndicated radio theatre series, "The Play's the Thing."

For more information visit latw.org. The James Bridges Theater is located in Melnitz Hall at 235 Charles E. Young Dr., Los Angeles, CA.