Joan Allen is returning to the Great White Way. The Tony winner and Oscar nominee will appear in the upcoming Broadway premiere of Oscar winner Kenneth Lonergan's Pulitzer-nominated play The Waverly Gallery, slated to begin previews on September 25 with an opening set for October 25 at the Golden Theatre. Lila Neugebauer will direct.
Allen won a Tony Award for her turn in Burn This; her other Broadway credits include The Heidi Chronicles and Impressionism. Allen earned Oscar nominations for The Contender, The Crucible and Nixon and Emmy noms for Georgia O'Keeffe and The Mists of Avalon.
The Waverly Gallery is about the final years of a generous, chatty and feisty grandmother’s final battle against Alzheimer’s disease. Gladys is an old-school lefty and social activist and longtime owner of a small art gallery in Greenwich Village. The play explores her fight to retain her independence and the subsequent effect of her decline on her family, especially her grandson.
Allen joins a cast led by the previously announced Oscar nominees Elaine May and Lucas Hedges and current Tony nominee Michael Cera. The creative team of The Waverly Gallery will include Tony winner David Zinn (scenic design), Tony and Oscar winner Ann Roth (costume design) and five-time Tony winner Brian MacDevitt (lighting design).