Hedda Gabler: Mary-Louise Parker to star in Roundabout revival

Roundabout Theatre Company has announced that Tony award winner Mary-Louise Parker (Proof) will star in a new Broadway production of Hedda Gabler, by Henrik Ibsen. The production features a new adaptation by Christopher Shinn and will be directed by Ian Rickson.

The play will open at the American Airline Theatre on 25 Jan 2009, following previews from 6 Jan, for a limited engagement.

The production marks Tony, Emmy & Golden Globe winning actress Mary-Louise Parker�s return to Broadway following her 2004 Tony-nominated performance in Craig Lucas� 'Reckless.'

Parker won the 2001 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance as 'Catherine' in 'Proof' (2000). Her other Broadway credits includes 'Bus Stop' (1996 revival) and 'Prelude to a Kiss' (1990). Parker won both an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe award for her work in the TV mini series 'Angels in America,' and won her second Golden Globe Award for the TV series 'Weeds'.

Ian Rickson has previously directed Conor McPherson's 'The Weir' (1999) on Broadway. He is soon to direct a revival of Chekov's The Seagull in which Kristin Scott Thomas will make her Broadway debut.

Hedda Gabler is Henrik Ibsen�s social drama of a caged woman in the late nineteenth century explores her tormented desire for escape and her yearning for individual and spiritual freedom.

In Hedda Gabler, the newly-wed Hedda Tesman finds herself bored with married life to her scholar husband, George Tesman. As the daughter of General Gabler, she had grown accustomed to the freedom and exciting social world of her father�s home. When her rival, Mrs. Elvsted, reenters her life with Hedda�s former lover, Eilert Lovberg in tow, Hedda sets out on a shocking path of destruction that affects the lives of everyone around her.

Henrik Ibsen's (Playwright -1828 -1906) plays, in addition to Hedda Gabler, include 'A Doll's House,' 'Ghosts,' 'An Enemy of the People,' 'The Lady from the Sea,' 'Peer Gynt,' 'Pillars of Society,' 'The Wild Duck,' 'Rosmersholm,' 'The Master Builder,' 'Little Eyolf,' 'John Gabriel Borkman' and 'When We Dead Awaken.'

Additional cast members and the design team will be announced shortly.