Jean Stapleton, Dana Ivey and Andrew McCarthy will star in Hartford Stage's production of Horton Foote's The Death of Papa, scheduled to begin previews May 27, open June 2 and end June 27.

Last month, Hartford Stage lost its original star of Papa, Matthew Broderick, when the actor opted to remain with the National Actors Theatre's Broadway staging of Emlyn Williams' Night Must Fall. Rather than scrap the production, artistic director Michael Wilson decided to proceed, recasting Broderick's role with McCarthy. McCarthy only just completed a run as James Tyrone, Jr., in Hartford's revival of O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night. He is best known, however, for his many roles in "Brat Pack" films such as "Pretty in Pink" and "St. Elmo's Fire."

Stapleton is an old hand at Foote, having acted in his The Roads to Home and Night Seasons. She recently appeared in the American premiere of Tom Stoppard's India Ink at San Francisco's ACT.

Ivey's many credits include Alfred Uhry's Driving Miss Daisy and The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Christopher Durang's Sex and Longing and Playwrights Horizon's recent The Uneasy Chair.

Also in the cast are Hallie Foote, Devon Abner, Julie Fishell, Frank Girardeau, Ed Wheeler and Beatrice Winde. The Death of Papa concludes Foote's nine-play "Orphan's Home" cycle, about a Texas family at the turn of the century. Foote won the Pulitzer Prize for his The Young Man from Atlanta.

For information on The Death of Papa, call (860) 527-5151.

-- By Robert Simonson