Of Mice and Men: Jim Parrack joins cast

"True Blood's" Jim Parrack will make his Broadway debut starring as 'Slim' in the upcoming Broadway revival of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, directed by Tony Award winner Anna D. Shapiro.

Parrack will join the previously announced Academy Award nominee James Franco, BAFTA Award nominee Chris O'Dowd, Tony Award-winner Jim Norton and "Gossip Girl" star Leighton Meester. Franco, O'Dowd and Meester are are all making their Broadway debut in the revival.

Parrack is known to fans of the TV series "True Blood" for his role as "Hoyt Fortenberry." Parrack, who is the president of 120 Productions, Inc, has previously worked with James Franco when he directed him on the movie "As I Lay Dying."

The rest of the cast and the design team will be announced shortly.

Of Mice and Men will open at the Longacre Theatre on 16 Apr 2014, following previews from 19 Mar 2014, where it will play a strictly limited engagement through to 27 Jul 2014.

John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men is set against the backdrop of America's Great Depression and tells the story of the friendship between George (James Franco) and Lennie (Chris O'Dowd) who dream of buying a small farm of their own after years of ekeing out a living as itinerant farm workers. The two friends soon discover the flip side of their American Dream and the friendship is tested to its limits.

The revival of Of Mice and Men is being produced on Broadway by David Binder, with Kate Lear, Darren Bagert, Adam Zotovich, Barbara Whitman and Latitude Link. 101 Productions, Ltd are the executive producers.

Of Mice and Men premiered on Broadway in 1937, in a production directed by George S. Kaufman, and which starred Wallace Ford as 'George' and Broderick Crawford as 'Lennie.'

It was revived on Broadway in 1974, starring Kevin Conway as 'George' and 'James Earl Jones' as 'Lennie,' with directon by Edwin Sherin.