Experimental director JoAnne Akalaitis, a regular in recent years at Chicago's Court Theatre, will return to the company Sept. 5-Oct. 6 to direct Racine's Phèdre.

Jenny Bacon, an actress known for her work in avant garde productions of plays by Susan Sontag, Tennessee Williams and Eugene O'Neill—all at New York Theatre Workshop—will star as the lust-torn title character.

This Phèdre has been adapted by Paul Schmidt. The oft-dramatized story is about a queen who falls hopelessly in love with her stepson. When she finally makes her feelings clear, the results are death and dishonor and the misguided vengeance of the gods.

The cast includes James Elly as the son, Hippolytus; James Krag as King Theseus; De Anna N.J. Brooks as Ismene; Chaon Cross as Aricia; Elizabeth Laidlaw as Enone; and Scott Parkinson as Theramenes.

The design team for Phèdre includes Gordana Svilar (set), Kaye Voyce (costumes), and Andre Pluess and Ben Sussman (sound), who all collaborated with Akalaitis on Mary Stuart last fall, with Joel Moritz (lights.) Akalaitis and Bacon worked together at the Court last year in Mary Stuart.

The Court Theatre is located at 5535 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago. For tickets and information, call (773) 753 4472.

—By Robert Simonson