Stage and film star Eileen Brennan will play the selfish, tormenting mother of The Beauty Queen of Leenane in the Virginia Stage Company production of the Martin McDonagh play, Jan. 17-Feb. 7, 1999. The play will open Jan. 22, 1999 under Jeannette Lambermont's direction. Brennan received an Oscar nomination for her performance in the comedy "Private Benjamin." Other films include "The Last Picture Show," "The Sting," "Murder by Death" and "This Boy's Life." She is not a stranger to McDonagh's work. Earlier this year, she acted in the playwright's The Cripple of Inishmaan at New York's Public Theatre.

Brennan's fellow cast member include Bernadette Quigley, David McCann and Greg McFadden.

The Beauty Queen of Leenane continues to run at Broadway's Walter Kerr Theatre; McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan played at the Public Theatre last season.

For information on Virginia Stage's mounting of Beauty Queen, call (757) 627-1234.