Black cast set for Kennedy Center opening

WASHINGTON, July 27 (UPI) -- The Kennedy Center opens its 2004-2005 theater season with the play "On Golden Pond" with Tony Award-winning actors James Earl Jones and Diahann Carroll.

The revival of the beloved Ernest Thompson drama at the Eisenhower Theater will be directed by Leonard Foglia, best known for "Master Class" and "Wait Until Dark" on Broadway, and will play from Sept. 28 to Oct. 17.

Jones and Carroll, as Norman and Ethel Thayer, will be working together for the first time since they starred in the 1974 film "Claudine," for which they both earned Gold Globe nominations and Carroll earned an Academy Award nomination. Jones also got an Academy Award nomination for his performance in "The Great White Hope.

Jones has been acting as spokesperson for Verizon and cable news station CNN and is a Kennedy Center honoree. Carroll, whose career as a singer and actress has encompassed Broadway, Hollywood, and Las Vegas, has a recurring role in Showtime's "Soul Food" on television and recently played Whoopi Goldberg's mother on the NBC show "Whoopi."