Grief Fuels a Tale of Mom and Daughter in World Premiere, 'Scratch', Featuring Playwright. Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman's Scratch, charting her relationship with her sick mother, will get its world premiere at Toronto's Factory Theatre Mainspace Oct. 4-Nov. 2. The playwright, who began the work when she was 16, will also play the teenage daughter character, Anna.

Award-Winning 'Scorched' Returns to Toronto's Tarragon Before Playing Dates Across Canada. Casting has been announced for Tarragon Theatre's remount of Scorched by Wajdi Mouawad, to play the Toronto theatre's Mainspace Sept. 2-28. It will play a mini-tour of Canadian resident theatres in fall 2008 and early 2009.

William Petersen to Star in Steppenwolf's 'Dublin Carol,' Directed by Amy Morton. Casting is complete for director Amy Morton's upcoming Steppenwolf Theatre Company production of Dublin Carol by Conor McPherson. Joining "CSI" star and Chicago veteran William Petersen will be Stephen Louis Grush and Nicole Wiesner.

International Performers Will Find Home in Pittsburgh Festival of Firsts. The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust will present its second Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts, a city-wide, 16-day performing and visual arts festival Oct. 10-25.

Chicago Porchlight Season Will Begin With 'Candide', Blending Actors, Musicians and Theatregoers. The 1973 Harold Prince revision of Leonard Bernstein's Candide, which includes contributions by lyricist Stephen Sondheim and librettist Hugh Wheeler, will get a staging by Porchlight Music Theatre at Theatre Building Chicago in Chicago.

A Cast of 51, Including Burke Moses as Von Trapp, Featured in Toronto 'Sound of Music'. Broadway's Burke Moses, Gaston of Beauty and the Beast, will play Capt. Von Trapp opposite reality TV audition winner Elicia MacKenzie, of CBC TV's "How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?," in the new Toronto production of The Sound of Music.

PLAYBILL.COM'S THEATRE WEEK IN REVIEW: Teen Spirit. The median age of the Actors' Equity membership just went down by a tiny fraction.

Philly's Prince Music Theater Revisits 'The World Goes 'Round' This Fall. Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia is planning to expand the revue of Kander & Ebb songs, The World Goes Round, for a new production to run Sept. 20-Oct. 12.

Robins, Clohessy, Derelian, Sturgis Will Board NJ 'Streetcar Named Desire'. Broadway, film, television and Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey veteran Laila Robins, who'll slip into the skin of faded belle Blanche du Bois in the troupe's A Streetcar Named Desire, will be joined by a fellow veteran of the company, Gregory Derelian, as brutish Stanley Kowalski.

Chicago's ATC Gets New Exec Director, New Actors and Adds 'Celebrity Row' to Season. American Theater Company in Chicago announced that Michael Thomas Newberry is its new executive director, and that David Cromer will direct the Chicago premiere of Celebrity Row, which has been added to its season.

Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy' Exits Broadway; Tour Continues. Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy, the family-friendly theatrical, acrobatic and musical adventure that evokes the exotica of untamed places, ends its limited Broadway engagement at the Broadway Theatre Aug. 24.

New Song of the South. Joe DiPietro's musical, Memphis, explores the racial tensions underneath the birth of rock 'n' roll.

Signature's 'First Breeze' Will Waft a Week Longer. Signature Theatre Company's new production of Leslie Lee's The First Breeze of Summer, starring Leslie Uggams, has been extended by one week from Sept. 28 to Oct. 5.

Broadway's 'Phantom' Has a New Soprano. Marni Raab, who previously starred as rising opera star Christine on both the Asian world tour and the U.S. national tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, takes over the role on Broadway starting at the evening performance Aug. 20.

Denver Center Adds New Comedy 'Sunsets and Margaritas' to 2008-09 Season. Sunsets and Margaritas, Jos Cruz Gonz·lez's new comedy about three generations of a Mexican-American family, will get its world premiere by Denver Center Theatre Company in 2009, artistic director Kent Thompson announced.

Submission Period Announced for Plays and Musicals Aiming for 2009 O'Neill Conferences. Attention playwrights and musical theatre writers: The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT, has announced details of its Open Submissions process for projects to be included in O'Neill's summer 2009 national new works conferences.

Dvorsky, Gamble, Parker-Namdar, Sherback to Sing Broadway's 'Lost Songs' in VA. Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA, kicks off its cabaret season Sept. 3-6 with The Lost Songs of Broadway 1940s-1950s, "a collection of terrific tunes from some of history's forgotten mid-century musicals.".

Matt Sax's Hip-Hop Musical 'Clay' Plays KC Prior to NYC. Before it surfaces Off-Broadway this fall, the hip-hop musical, Clay, will make a big noise at Kansas City Repertory Theatre's Copaken Stage Sept. 6-28.

Casting Complete for Shanley & Krieger's Musical 'Romantic Poetry'. Jeb Brown, Jerry Dixon, and Emily Swallow have joined the company of Romantic Poetry, the new musical by John Patrick Shanley and Henry Krieger, which Manhattan Theatre Club will give a world premiere this fall.

John Pizzarelli Interprets Richard Rodgers on New CD. "With a Song in My Heart: John Pizzarelli Sings the Music of Richard Rodgers," a new recording by the jazz guitarist and vocalist who interprets the American Songbook, is in stores now from Telarc.