T. Ryder Smith, recently the star of Thom Pain leads a cast that includes Maria Dizzia, Emily Donahoe, David Andrew McMahon and Garrett Neergaard.

    Anne Washburn's play will officially open December 4, and the limited engagement will run through Jan. 8, 2006. Les Waters directs.

Apparition, according to a production release, is set in a "haunted theatre [as] the play moves from ancient tales of dread, to examinations of Macbeth, to demons discussing their dining habits, to a murder that may or may not have happened."

Apparition was workshopped at Soho Rep in 2001. The play had its premiere in November 2003 at Chashama, the quirky outfit formerly located on West 42nd Street. The playwright's greatest notoriety perhaps comes from being a member of the rising Off-Off-Broadway group The Civilians, which staged a run of her The Ladies. She is also a member of 13P, the playwright-driven troupe which presented her The Internationalist.

The Connelly Theatre is located in New York at 220 East 4th Street. Tickets will go on sale in October. Casting is expected shortly.