Baker, Gleason, James, et al. Set for Beane’s The Cartells

Vanessa Aspillaga, Dylan Baker, Keith Davis, Joanna Gleason, Brian d’Arcy James, David Rakoff, and Joey Slotnick will star in Douglas Carter Beane’s four-part soap opera The Cartells, which will be performed Mondays, October 16-November 6, at Comix (353 West 14th Street). The show, to be directed by Carl Andress, will mark the opening of the Drama Dept.’s 2006-2007 season.

The Cartells is about a wealthy oil family “having too much fun in an Aaron Spelling kind of way.” The show’s creative team includes B.T. Whitehill (set design), Jeriana Hochberg (costume design), Kirk Bookman and Julie Seitel (lighting design), and Lewis Flinn (sound design/original music).

Beane is the artistic director of the Drama Dept. His play The Little Dog Laughed, seen earlier this year at Second Stage, will begin performances at Broadway’s Cort Theatre next month. Among his other stage works are The Country Club, Advice from a Caterpillar, and As Bees in Honey Drown.

According to the company’s website, upcoming productions will include a “neglected musical” starring Tony Award winner B.D. Wong; a new play by Elizabeth Egolf, starring Emmy Award winner Patricia Clarkson; and the New York premiere of Warren Leight’s James and Annie. For more information, visit www.dramadept.org.