Following an Off-Broadway bow this summer, Austin Pendleton will bring his Wars of the Roses: Henry VI & Richard III back to the New York stage in December. The production, which combines text from both Shakespeare plays, will play December 3–5 at Theater for the New City.

Tony nominee Pendleton will again direct and play Henry VI, with Matt de Rogatis reprising his performance as Richard IIII. The cast also includes Jim Broaddus, John Constantine, Adam Dodway, Milton Elliott, Carolyn Groves, Debra Lass, Johanna Leister, Rachel Marcus, Pete McElligott, Brian Patrick Murphy, John L. Payne, Tomas Russo, and Michael Villastrigo.

“What's always fascinated me about Richard III is how he became to be the way that Shakespeare so brilliantly portrays him in the play named after him,” says Pendleton. “I believe the answer to all of this is clearly dramatized by Shakespeare in Henry VI Part 3, the play that leads up to Richard III. So when Matt de Rogatis, whose exciting Hamlet I'd seen a couple years ago, came to me with the idea of Richard III, my first thought was to align the two plays... With a great deal of judicious cutting we managed to get a swift and compact script, and thus we can track the development of this troubled and terrifying Richard from a young man searching for love and acknowledgment to the monster that became King Richard III."

The production features designs by Steven wolf, with Project Runway alum Maya Luz as costume consultant.