Harriet Harris, Hedda Lettuce, Manu Narayan, Brian Charles Rooney, et al. Set for 2011 FringeNYC

Preliminary casting has been announced for several shows in the 2011 New York International Fringe Festival, to be presented in multiple venues in downtown Manhattan, August 12-28.

Tony Award winner Harriet Harris will star in Yeast Nation (The Triumph of Life), a new rock musical by Urinetown creators Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis that will play the Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa E.T.C. The cast will also include Erik Altemus, Jennifer Blood, Rheaume Crenshaw, Rick Crom, Nick Gaswirth, Kimiko Glenn, Douglas Goodhart, Antwayn Hopper, Lauren Lebowitz, George McDaniel, Manu Narayan, Charlie Plummer, Sarah Sokolovic, and Joy Suprano.

Brian Charles Rooney, who played Lucy Brown in the most recent Broadway revival of The Threepenny Opera, will star alongside Anna Eilinsfeld, Jared Zirilli, and Jacquelyn Graham in Winner Take All (A Rock Opera), to be directed and choreographed by John Carrafa, with musical direction by Skip Brevis.

Legendary drag personality Hedda Lettuce (aka Steven Politio) will be part of the cast of Parker & Dizzy’s Fabulous Journey to the End of the Rainbow, at La MaMa. Broadway veteran Stephanie Pope Caffey will star in Dan Heching’s Sammy Gets Mugged!, directed by Noah Himmelstein at The Living Theater. Award-winning actor Christopher Cartmill will play the title role in Killing John Grisham, by Jack Moore, at Teatro SEA. Mark Sam Rosenthal, the creator of the Fringe hit Blanche Survives Katrina in a FEMA Trailer Named Desire, returns to the festival in a multi-media presentation, I Light Up My Life, at Dixon Place.

Additional casting includes Broadway veteran Bradford Cover in the world premiere of Kate Mulley’s The Tutor; stand-up comic Rick Younger along with Ilana Becker, Kelly Strandemo, and Ivan Perez in One, Two, Whatever You Do; Broadway veteran Billy Eugene Jones in Pearl’s Gone Blue; Julie Jesneck and Jennifer Conley Darling in Buried Words; comedians Jerry Miller and Will Nunziata in Dystopia Gardens; and Mary-Beth Manning in her solo show, Mother.

For tickets and more information, click here.