Though exact dates have yet to be set, the two fall shows at New York's Lincoln Center Theater will be Tina Howe's Pride's Crossing starring Cherry Jones and David Hare's adaptation of Anton Chekhov's Ivanov starring Kevin Kline.
As he did for San Diego's Old Globe Theatre, where he serves as artistic director, Jack O'Brien will direct Cherry Jones in the Howe drama at the Off-Broadway, Mitzi Newhouse space. Pride's Crossing explores the fictional life of feisty, 91-year-old Mabel Tidings Bigelow, who relives her experiences through flashbacks.
Said O'Brien when he directed the play Jan. 25-March 2 in San Diego, "This play is funny and wise, an allegory of American women during the early 20th century, women who were not given -- particularly by their families -- the awareness that they could be great."
Starting performances in late Oct. at the Vivian Beaumont, Broadway space will be Ivanov. Kevin Kline, of Pirates Of Penzance and On the 20th Century stage renown, will star in the comedy/drama, staged by Gerald Gutierrez. The latter won a Tony for directing The Heiress (which also netted a best actress Tony for Jones), and his current Broadway production of Once Upon A Mattress will close May 31.
This has been a heady time for playwright Howe. She will receive an honorary Doctorate from Whittier College in Los Angeles. The May 23 ceremony will cap a week in which she'll also be honored by L.A. performers and the school's alumni at An Evening With Tina Howe two days earlier.
The May 21 event will feature scenes from such plays as The Nest, Birth and After Birth, Museum, The Art of Dining, Painting Churches, Coastal Disturbances, Approaching Zanzibar, One Shoe Off and Pride's Crossing. Confirmed for the show, either as actors or speakers, are Annette Benning (who appeared on Broadway in Coastal Disturbances and will read from that show and Pride's Crossing at the event), Joel Brooks, Christine Burke, Tim Daly, Susan Dexter, Stephanie Dunnam, Alan Feinstein, Dennis Hunt, Cynthia Mace, Joe Olivieri, Catherine Telford, Melissa Weber. Howe will also speak at the event.
Aug. 22, Howe's One Shoe Off, produced by The Lost World and directed by Crystal Brian, will have its West Coast premiere at the Gascon Center Theatre in Los Angeles.
On the heels of the critical success of Skylight in the West End and Broadway (the latter of which just received a special 1997 Theatre World Award for Best Ensemble), playwright Hare is readying his latest in London.
Amy's View, directed by Richard Eyre and starring Dame Judi Dench, opens at the National Theatre's Lyttelton space June 20, with previews to start June 13.
Amy's View will be the eleventh David Hare play produced at the Royal National, following Plenty (1978), A Map Of The World, Pravda, The Bay At Nice / Wrecked Eggs, Fanshen, The Secret Rapture, Racing Demon, Murmuring Judges, The Absence Of War, and Skylight.
