Trinity Rep of Providence, RI, officially opens its 1998-99 season Sept. 9 with Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's classic musical The Threepenny Opera. Performances began in the upstairs theatre Sept. 4 for a run through Oct. 11. The musical is directed by Alan MacVey.

MacVey's vision takes place in the London of tomorrow, at the coronation of King William V, "just after the next crash." Ellen McLaughlin, of Angels in America fame, plays Mack the Knife's wronged lover, Jenny Diver. Longtime Trinity member William Damkoehler plays MacHeath, while Jennifer Mudge Tucker is Polly.

Next in the upstairs theatre is Shakespeare's comedy As You Like It (Jan. 29-Mar. 7, 1999), directed by Trinity Artistic Director Oskar Eustis, followed by veteran Trinity actress Barbara Meek's portrayal of Maria Callas in McNally's Master Class (Apr. 9-May 16, 1999). Meek played one of the Delany sisters in last year's Trinity production of Having Our Say, and her appearance in Master Class is thought to be the first time an African-American actress has played Callas.

Meanwhile, in the downstairs theatre, Eustis will direct Nine Armenians (Sept. 25-Nov. 8), Ayvazian's touching story about three generations of an Armenian-American family. The play will open Trinity's downstairs space.

Also scheduled for the downstairs theatre are Shaw's take on the Joan of Arc legend, St. Joan (Dec. 4, 1998-Jan. 17, 1999), directed by Amanda Dehnert; A Preface to the Alien Garden (Feb. 26-Apr. 3, 1999), a new play about inner-city, "gangsta" life by playwright Robert Alexander; and Can't Pay? Won't Pay! (May 7-Jun. 20, 1999), one of the better known works of 1997 Nobel Prize-winning Italian dramatist Dario Fo. For information, call (401) 351-4242.

-- By Robert Simonson