The fifth season of the hit HBO series "Sex and the City " will feature guest appearances from a host of New York theatre actors.

Among the thespians who will take part in the upcoming season of the acclaimed sitcom - which stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Kim Cattrall and Cynthia Nixon as a group of single friends in New York City - are Amy Sedaris, Evan Handler, Sean Palmer and two-time Tony winner Nathan Lane.

Entertainment Weekly reports that Handler will return to the series as a divorce lawyer who is a potential love interest for Davis' character, Charlotte; Carrie's gay friend, Stanford, will become smitten with a performer played by Palmer; and stage and-screen actor Lane will play himself. Sedaris (of Manhattan Theatre Club's Wonder of the World, which starred Parker in late 2001) will appear on the first episode of the season. (Mario Cantone, who replaced Nathan Lane in Love! Valour! Compassion!, will also appear on the HBO series this season.)

On the New York stage, Amy Sedaris has been seen in The Country Club and The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told as well as in a host of plays written by the Talent Family (Sedaris and brother David Sedaris): Jamboree, Stump the Host, Stitches, One Woman Shoe, The Little Frieda Mysteries, Incident at Cobble Knob and The Book of Liz. She earned an Obie for her performance in the aforementioned One Woman Shoe and has been seen on the small screen in "Exit 57," "Strangers with Candy" and "Just Shoot Me." Evan Handler starred on Broadway in Solomon's Child, Broadway Bound, Six Degrees of Separation and I Hate Hamlet. His film credits include "Natural Born Killers," "Ransom" and "It's Like, You Know. . ." Sean Palmer made his New York City debut in the annual Radio City Christmas Spectacular and has since appeared on Broadway in Dream, Fosse and Saturday Night Fever, where he eventually played the lead role of Tony Manero. In addition to his Tony-winning roles in The Producers and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Nathan Lane has starred on The Great White Way in Present Laughter, Merlin, The Wind in the Willows, Some Americans Abroad, On Borrowed Time, Guys and Dolls, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Love! Valour! Compassion! and The Man Who Came to Dinner. The actor has also been featured in such films as "Addams Family Values," "Mousehunt," "Love's Labour's Lost" and "The Birdcage," scoring a Golden Globe nomination for his work in the latter.