Playbill.com has learned that Feldshuh will play the late Academy Award-winning actress Katharine Hepburn in Matthew Lombardo's play, which was seen at Off-Broadway's Promenade Theatre starring Kate Mulgrew. John Tillinger will direct the upcoming touring production.
Tour dates are currently scheduled for Dec. 19-23 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Chicago, IL and Jan. 9-13, 2008, at the Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale, FL.
Tea at Five, according to press notes, is "an intimate look at Katharine Hepburn at home in her Fenwick estate in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. The play takes place in February 1983 after Hepburn was injured in an automobile accident. This homebound recovery affords the now-legendary star an opportunity to reflect on her turbulent childhood, the triumphs of her career and her heart-breaking 27 year love affair with Spencer Tracy."
The design team comprises Tony Straiges (set design), Kevin Adams (lighting design), Jess Goldstein (costume design), Paul Huntley (wig design) and John Gromada (sound design).
Tovah Feldshuh received Tony Award nominations for her work in Golda's Balcony, Yentl, Sarava and Lend Me a Tenor. Her theatre roles have also garnered the actress four Drama Desk Awards, four Outer Critics Circle Awards, an Obie and a Theatre World Award. Playwright Lombardo received the IRNE Award for Best Solo Play for Tea at Five, which made its world premiere at Hartford Stage and has since played over a dozen theatres nationwide. His other plays include End of the World Party, Mother and Child and Guilty Innocence. Lombardo is currently collaborating with director Tillinger on Looped, about the life of Tallulah Bankhead. That play is scheduled to make its world premiere in March 2008 at the Ivoryton Playhouse.
Tillinger directed the Broadway productions of Absurd Person Singular, Say Goodnight Gracie, Judgment at Nuremberg, Night Must Fall, the Sunshine Boys, Inherit the Wind (Tony nomination, Outer Critics Circle Award), Broken Glass, The Price (Tony nomination), Sweet Sue, Loot (Tony nomination, Outer Critics Circle Award), Corpse!, The Golden Age and Solomon's Child.
For more information visit www.northshorecenter.org or www.parkerplayhouse.org.
