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Emmy Award winners Hal Linden and Mare Winningham will star in the world premiere of Wendy Graf's two-character drama Lessons, which will run July 29-August 27 at the Lee Strasberg Institute in West Hollywood. Adam Davidson, who won an Oscar for his short film The Lunch Date, will direct the play.

Linden will play Ben, a man in his 60s who decides to finally have a Bar Mitzvah, while Winningham will play Ruth, a former Rabbi whom he hires to tutor him. Originally, David Groh was to play Ben, but he withdrew from the project last month, resulting in a two-week postponement of the play.

Linden won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for The Rothschilds. His numerous Broadway credits include the original productions of Bells Are Ringing and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, and revivals of The Pajama Game and Cabaret. Earlier this year, he appeared in New York in Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance. Linden is best known for the playing the title character in TV sitcom Barney Miller, and he received an Emmy Award for hosting FYI, a series of daytime informational spots.

Winningham has won Emmy Awards for the television films George Wallace and Amber Waves. She received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Georgia. Most recently, she co-starred in the CBS-TV series Clubhouse.

Graf's previous plays include The Book of Esther, A Hollywood Fable, and L.A. Tales. She has also had successful careers as an actress, screenwriter, and cabaret performer.