Lahti Pulls Out of The Busy World Is Hushed Off-B'way; Clayburgh To Step In

Leading lady Christine Lahti has withdrawn from Playwrights Horizons' world premiere production of The Busy World Is Hushed, which began rehearsals last week, "due to family matters that necessitate her returning to the West Coast," according to a production statement. Jill Clayburgh will now star alongside Hamish Linklater and Luke Macfarlane in the Keith Bunin play.

Clayburgh headlined an initial reading of The Busy World Is Hushed at New York Stage and Film. She is currently appearing on the Great White Way in Barefoot in the Park, which shutters on May 21. Earlier this season she starred in A Naked Girl on the Appian Way at the American Airlines Theatre. Her other Broadway credits include The Rothschilds, Pippin, Design for Living and Jumpers. Clayburgh was part of the original off-Broadway cast of The Exonerated and in the summer of 2003 reunited with her Exonerated co-star Richard Dreyfuss in the Westport Country Playhouse production of All My Sons. She also has numerous film and television credits. Notable among them are her Emmy Award-winning turn in Hustling, her career-launching performance in the box office hit Silver Streak, and two films that earned her consecutive Best Actress Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations, An Unmarried Woman and Starting Over. She will next be seen on the big screen in the film adaptation of Augusten Burroughs' Running with Scissors, which is scheduled for release late this year.

In The Busy World Is Hushed, Hannah (Clayburgh), a minister and bible scholar, finds her faith at odds with that of Thomas, her estranged, wayward son (Macfarlane). But when an inquisitive young writer (Linklater) hired to assist Hannah with her latest publication learns painful secrets from Hannah's past, she spies a risky, unconventional opportunity for reconciliation.

The Busy World Is Hushed, directed by Mark Brokaw, was slated to start performances on May 27, but, because of the casting change, the show will now kick-off on June 2. The production's new opening date is June 25 and its final performance is scheduled for July 9.