Jane Alexander Will Be The Lady From Dubuque for NYC Signature; Edward Albee's Egg Still Incubating

By Kenneth Jones
01 Nov 2011

Jane Alexander
Jane Alexander

The leadership of Off-Broadway's Signature Theatre Company announced on Nov. 1 that Edward Albee's 1977 play The Lady From Dubuque will be produced in 2012 in a new production featuring Tony Award winner Jane Alexander and directed by David Esbjornson. It replaces the world premiere of Edward Albee's Laying an Egg, which will be produced in a future season.

The Albee works are part of the resident not-for-profit's new Legacy Program designed to welcome back resident writers whose work was featured in earlier seasons. Signature moves into its Frank Gehry-designed three-theatre Signature Center complex on West 42nd Street in early 2012.

Signature's artistic director James Houghton said in a statement, "We couldn't be more thrilled than to launch our new End Stage Theatre at Signature Center with the incomparable Jane Alexander in Edward Albee's biting and deeply moving The Lady From Dubuque."

About the rescheduling of the previously announced Edward Albee's Laying an Egg, Houghton added, "All good things are well worth the wait and most certainly a new play from one of our most treasured playwrights is no exception. Stay tuned."

Edward Albee
photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN

Alexander has worked on Broadway, in London and in regional theatres around the U.S. She won the Tony Award for her work in The Great White Hope, and was Tony-nominated for The Sisters Rosensweig, Find Your Way Home and 6 Rms Riv Vu. She is a four-time Oscar nominee for the films "Testament," "Kramer vs. Kramer," "All the President's Men" and "The Great White Hope."

Esbjornson (The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?) was also attached as director of Laying an Egg.

As previously reported, Signature will stage seven productions for its inaugural 2012 season at Signature Center (480 W. 42nd Street near 10th Avenue), the company’s new Frank Gehry-designed permanent home opening in February 2012. Signature Center "will allow the Company to expand its programming, introduce new initiatives, and build audiences. Featuring three intimate theatres, a studio theatre, rehearsal studio and a shared lobby with café and bookstore, Signature Center will be both a theatre community hub and a neighborhood destination."

Subscriptions are on sale now by calling the Box Office at (212) 244-PLAY (7529) or visiting the newly redesigned www.signaturetheatre.org.