Strathairn and Plunkett Star in Williamstown Premiere of Off-Broadway Bound Nelson Play, July 7-18

By Robert Simonson
07 Jul 2004

David Strathairn
David Strathairn

David Strathairn will head the cast of Richard Nelson's new play Rodney's Wife, due to premiere on the Williamstown Theatre Festival's Nikos Stage July 7-18.

Strathairn will play the titular Rodney, a forgotten movie actor who is in Rome in 1962 to film one of the first so-called "Spaghetti Westerns." Susan May Pratt plays his 25-year-old daughter.

Maryann Plunkett is Eva, his recently widowed sister. Haviland Morris is his second wife, Fay, and John Rothman is his new manager Henry. Together, they're living in a villa in the city where "household relations are strained when Fay’s reaction to the news of Lee’s unexpected engagement is less than enthusiastic."

Nelson directs the work.

Williamstown shows often find their way to New York, but the Nelson work had a definite Gotham future long before its first Berkshire preview. The play will run at Playwrights Horizons Nov. 12-Dec. 19.

Strathairn's New York credits include The Dance of Death, Three Sisters, Stranger and the recent Hannah and Martin. Plunkett won a Tony Award in 1987 for Me and My Girl. In the early '90s, she appeared in a series of productions with Tony Randall's National Actors Theatre, including the title role in Saint Joan. For the past decade, however, she has been absent from New York stages. Haviland Morris acted in such Broadway fare as Arcadia and Ring Round the Moon.

Nelson's many works include Some Americans Abroad, My Life With Albertine, New England, James Joyce's The Dead and Two Shakepearean Actors.

The remaining 2004 festival schedule runs as follows:

Main Stage:
Cabaret & Main, June 24-July 10
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, July 14-25
Design for Living, July 28-August 8
The Cherry Orchard, Aug. 11-22

Nikos Stage:
Rodney’s Wife, July 7-18
R Shomon, July 21-Aug. 1
Dedication or The Stuff of Dreams , Aug. 11-22