Kristin Flanders, who played a darkly comic husband killer in the Intiman Theatre's The Smell of the Kill, will play another tormented wife in Henrik Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea, playing the Seattle venue Aug. 24-Sept. 22. In the drama, a respectably married woman lives a secret inner life. Despite the trappings of middle-class contentment, she has spent her life obsessed with a sailor who romanced her in her youth. When he returns to claim her as his bride, she must choose between her established home and her need for the sea.

A former company member at American Repertory Theatre and the Guthrie Theater, Flanders has played Hilde in The Master Builder, Kate in The Taming of the Shrew, Chrysothemis in Electra and Ariel in The Tempest. She also starred in the Obie-winning Theatre for a New Audience production of Waste, directed by Intiman artistic director Bartlett Sher. Jason Cottle plays the sailor with Phillip Goodwin as the husband.

Kate Whorinsky directs. Recently she staged The Chairs in a highly successful Seattle revival and The Collected Works of Billy the Kid at La Jolla Playhouse, a co-direction with Des Macnuff. She will direct Drowning Crow, Regina Taylor's adaptation of The Seagull for Chicago's Goodman Theatre in Jan., 2002.

Tickets are $42-$10. The Intiman Theatre is located in the Seattle Center at 201 Mercer St. For reservation information, call (206) 269-1900. The Intiman Theatre is on the web at http://www.intiman.org.

— By Christine Ehren