For its 12th season, opening this weekend with the greatest tragedy in the language, Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre has assembled more than 100 artists, designers, technicians and craftsmen to fill the two theaters at the Stephen Foster Memorial in Oakland.

But attention naturally focuses on the star actors and directors, both new and returning.

Under the season theme, Family Affairs, they will interpret an April-August season of Shakespeare, several works by Oscar Wilde, the complete dramas of John Millington Synge and a world premiere musical -- plus a December coda of a recent Broadway drama by Ireland's Conor McPherson.

For new stars, artistic director Andrew Paul has once again turned to Canada and Ireland.

From the former come longtime leading Shaw Festival actor/director Jim Mezon, and recent Shaw leading lady Nicole Underhay, along with the Shaw's own artistic director, Jackie Maxwell. From Ireland comes director/actor and Wilde-Beckett specialist Alan Stanford, who will present his one-man show, "In the Company of Oscar Wilde" (June 1 only).

New stars from the United States include Californian Dakin Matthews as King Lear, and Philadelphia-based Barrymore Award-winning director James J. Christy.

Returning is Shaw Festival star Simon Bradbury, and out-of-town PICT regulars Paul Todaro, Derdriu Ring and Kate Young; leading Pittsburgh actors David Whalen (2007 Post-Gazette Performer of the Year), Helena Ruoti, Martin Giles, Robin Walsh and Larry John Meyers, all also previous PG honorees.

PICT opens with Matthews in the title role of "King Lear" (April 9-26), directed by Christy. Matthews starred on Broadway opposite Kevin Kline and Ethan Hawke in his own adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henry IV."

The Fool will be played by British-born Bradbury, who was PICT's hard-working 2006 actor-in-residence ("Endgame," "The Shaughraun"). Playing Lear's daughters will be Ruoti, Walsh and Karen Baum, with Meyers as Gloucester and Whalen and Todaro as his sons.

An informal Wilde festival begins with "An Ideal Husband" (May 8-31), in which a star politician is threatened by a secret from his past -- shades of Eliot Spitzer. Whalen plays the politician, with Beth Hylton ("Private Lives") as his wife, Todaro as the Wilde-like aesthete and Californian Nike (Nickey) Doukas as the woman with a past.

Also in May, PICT collaborates for the first time with the Pittsburgh International Children's Theatre (also PICT, not to confuse the issue) on the world premiere of "Wilde Tales," a new musical by Bruce Dow based on two of Wilde's children's stories.

It will be directed by Sheila McKenna (another former PG Performer of the Year). The first half, "The Happy Prince," runs May 14-18. It continues with "The Selfish Giant," May 21-31.

In June, PICT turns biblical with Mezon and Underhay starring as the lascivious Herod and seductive Salome in Stanford's staging of Wilde's "Salome" (June 12-28). Composer and pianist Roger Doyle will perform his original improvised musical score.

Throughout July and August, PICT celebrates the centenary of one of Ireland's greatest with its Synge Cycle. All seven of Synge's stage plays will begin with the most famous, "The Playboy of the Western World," which begins July 17 and runs in repertory with three separate programs of shorter plays through Aug. 16. Performing will be a 16-actor rep company, including Mezon, Ring, Meyers and Giles, several of whom will also double as directors.

In December, PICT will return with a different sort of holiday play, Conor McPherson's "Dublin Carol" (Dec. 3-20), directed by the Shaw's Maxwell.

Post-Gazette theater editor Christopher Rawson can be reached at crawson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1666.Subscriptions

Ten different season subscription packages are available, $180 to $240, and a variety of flexible packages. Single tickets are $33-$47 ($17 under 25).

"Wilde Tales," "In the Company of Oscar Wilde" and the Synge Cycle one-act evenings are priced differently -- there's also a money-saving Synge Cycle Festival Pass.

Call ProArts Tickets at 412-394-3353 or visit www.picttheatre.org.

-- Chris Rawson