Julia Stiles and Heather Burns Cast Alongside Mia Farrow in Fran's Bed

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) has announced additional casting and details for the season opener of its 2005/2006 35th Anniversary Season, the New York premiere of FRAN'S BED, a new play written and directed by Pulitzer Prize and three-time Tony Award winner James Lapine (Sunday in the Park with George, March of the Falsettos, Falsettoland, Table Settings and The Moment When at Playwrights Horizons, Twelve Dreams, Into the Woods, Passion. Mr. Lapine is currently represented on Broadway as the director of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee).

Previews for FRAN'S BED will begin Tuesday, August 30 with an official opening on Sunday, September 25. Performances will continue through Sunday, October 9 at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street).

As previously announced, FRAN'S BED will feature Mia Farrow in the role she originated at The Long Wharf Theatre in 2003. Last on stage in the hit play The Exonerated (both Off-Broadway and across the U.S. in several engagements from 2002-2004), Ms. Farrow is well known for her screen performances in such classic films as Rosemary's Baby, Hannah and Her Sisters and Alice (Golden Globe Award).

Joining Ms. Farrow as her on-stage husband and daughters will be Broadway veteran Harris Yulin (Hedda Gabler, The Price, The Diary of Anne Frank) and film and stage stars Heather Burns (Lobby Hero at Playwrights Horizons, London's This Is Our Youth, the films Bewitched and Miss Congeniality) and Julia Stiles (Twelfth Night in Central Park, London's Oleanna, the films Mona Lisa Smile, The Bourne Identity, Hamlet). The cast will also include Brenda Pressley (Dreamgirls, Marvin's Room, And the World Goes 'Round) and Marcia DeBonis (Blue Window at MCC, founding company member of The Barrow Group).

What constitutes a life? Incapacitated, surrounded by her family, Fran (Mia Farrow) guides us on an unpredictable journey into her past in an effort to help understand her present situation. An offbeat, colorful tale of a woman at a midlife crossroads, FRAN'S BED is a delicate portrait of a family in crisis, told with ironic humor and unexpected feeling.

The production features scenic design by Derek McLane, costume design by Susan Hilferty, lighting design by David Lander, sound design by Fitz Patton and projections by Elaine J. McCarthy.

PLAYWRIGHTS HORIZONS, under the leadership of Artistic Director Tim Sanford and Managing Director Leslie Marcus, is a writer's theater dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers and lyricists, and to the production of their new work. In its 35 years, Playwrights Horizons has presented the work of more than 350 writers and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors. Notable productions include four Pulitzer Prize winners: Doug Wright's I Am My Own Wife (2004 Tony Award, Best Play), Wendy Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles, Alfred Uhry's Driving Miss Daisy and Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Sunday in the Park with George, as well as Lynn Nottage's Fabulation (2005 Obie Award for Playwriting), Craig Lucas's Small Tragedy (2004 Obie Award, Best American Play), Kenneth Lonergan's Lobby Hero, Kirsten Childs's The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, Richard Nelson and Shaun Davey's James Joyce's The Dead, William Finn's March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, Christopher Durang's Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You and Betty's Summer Vacation, Richard Nelson's Goodnight Children Everywhere and Franny's Way, Jon Robin Baitz's The Substance of Fire, Scott McPherson's Marvin's Room, A.R. Gurney's Later Life, Adam Guettel and Tina Landau's Floyd Collins and Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley's Violet.

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