Hepburn Play, Tea at Five, May Get Television Treatment

By Robert Simonson
July 1, 2003

Tea at Five, the Matthew Lombardo bio-play starring Kate Mulgrew, which closes its engagement at the Promenade Theatre Off-Broadway July 13, may be made into a television mini-series, Variety reported.

Variety's Army Archerd said producer Richard Fischoff is being offered the project and that Peter Bogdanovich is being sought as director.

Tea at Five concerns actress Katharine Hepburn, who died on June 29. Act One of the play offers a young Kate in 1938; Act Two shows the actress in her post-Spencer Tracy period. The setting is Hepburn's home in her Fenwick Estate in Old Saybrook, CT.

Tea at Five will have a a run in West Palm Beach later this year, after which a national tour will start.

By the close at the Promenade Theatre run, the John Tillinger-directed production had played 13 performances and 128 regular performances. The play began Feb. 25 and opened on March 9.