Oscar & Emmy Award winning screen legend Jane Fonda will return to Broadway in MOISÉS KAUFMAN's 33 VARIATIONS.
Performances begin on Monday, February 9th, 2009 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre (230 West 49th Street). The official opening will be Monday, March 9th, 2009. The engagement will play through May 24th, 2009.
The play marks Fonda's first time on Broadway in 46 years.
Kaufman is both the author and director of 33 VARIATIONS.This production will mark his Broadway debut as a playwright.
Additional casting, designers, dates and venue will be announced shortly.
David Binder (A Raisin in the Sun) presents the Tectonic Theatre Project's production of 33 VARIATIONS. Tectonic Theater Project is the award winning non-profit theater company behind such plays as The Laramie Project and Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, as well as nationally recognized arts education programs in high schools and universities around the country.
33 VARIATIONS tells the story of Beethoven's fascination with a trivial waltz, and the modern-day musicologist Katherine Brandt (Jane Fonda) who sets out to discover the root of his obsession. As Beethoven's indisputable genius and delightful humanity come to life on the sheet music in front of her, Katherine not only reveals the true nature of his gift, but also comes to embrace the beauty and legacy of her own life. Featuring an on-stage pianist, 33 Variations is a feast for the senses and the spirit.
33 Variations was developed in association with Arena Stage and played pre-Broadway tryouts at Arena Stage and the La Jolla Playhouse.
Jane Fonda said "I am very excited about being in Moisés new play. I can't wait to get back on stage with him in this role that I understand so well. It's been 40-some years!"
Moisés Kaufman said "I am delighted to be working with one of America's greatest actresses, a performer of such insight, intellect and heart. For Tectonic Theater Project, this piece is the culmination of an investigation into the creative life of Beethoven, and Ms. Fonda is the perfect person to lead us on that journey."
Oscar & Emmy Award winning Jane Fonda made her Broadway debut in the 1960 play There Was a Little Girl for which she earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured actress. Her last appearance on Broadway was in the 1963 drama Strange Interlude. 33 VARIATIONS marks her return to Broadway after 46 years.
In addition to being the Artistic Director of Tectonic Theatre Project, Moisés Kaufman is a Tony and Emmy nominated director and award-winning playwright for I Am My Own Wife & The Laramie Project.
Tickets will be available December 10th - December 25th through an exclusive arrangement with American Express. Tickets go on-sale to the general public on December 26th. Tickets for 33 VARIATIONS will be available by visiting Telecharge.com, calling (212) 239-6200 and at the box office of the Eugene O'Neill Theatre (230 West 49th Street).
33 VARIATIONS will play Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8:00PM with a Wednesday and Saturday matinee at 2:00PM and Sunday matinee at 3:00PM. (Please note: There will be a performance on Monday, February 9th, 2009 at 8PM; There will not be a performance on February 11th at 2PM, February 15th and March 10th, 2009.) Tuesdays at 7PM begin on March 17th, 2009.
Jane Fonda (Katherine Brandt). Having enjoyed tremendous success as a stage and screen actress, Jane Fonda now focuses much of her time on activism and social change - with much of her work devoted to the program she founded in 1995, the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (G-CAPP). Fonda chairs this statewide effort to reduce the high rates of adolescent pregnancy in Georgia through community, youth and family development, training of professionals who work with adolescents, and legislative advocacy. Fonda has long been known for activism and advocacy on environmental issues, human rights, and the empowerment of women and girls. In 2000, Fonda traveled to Nigeria and produced a film, in collaboration with the International Women's Health Coalition, entitled "Generation 2000: Changing Girls' Realities." Fonda is a member of the Women & Foreign Policy Advisory Committee of the Council on Foreign Relations; the board of Women's Media Center, which she co-founded in 2004; and she sits on the board of V-Day: Until The Violence Stops, a global effort to stop violence against women begun in 1998 by Eve Ensler, author of "The Vagina Monologues." At the Emory School of Medicine, Fonda established the Jane Fonda Center for Adolescent Reproductive Health which engages in research, curriculum development and trainings that broaden understanding of adolescent development and reproductive health and enhance service delivery to children, youth and families. In addition, Fonda's gift has endowed a faculty chair in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics in Emory University School of Medicine named the Marion Howard Chair in Adolescent Reproductive Health. In 1994, Fonda was named Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund. Fonda was born in New York City in 1937, the daughter of Henry Fonda and Frances Seymour Fonda. She attended the Emma Willard School in Troy, New York, and Vassar College. In her late teens, Fonda studied with renowned acting coach Lee Strasberg and became a member of the Actors Studio in New York. Her subsequent work on stage and screen earned numerous nominations and awards, including Oscars (Best Actress in 1971 for Klute and in 1978 for Coming Home) and an Emmy for her performance in The Dollmaker.
