Annette O'Toole Joins THE TRAVELING LADY, Extending at Cherry Lane

The producers also announce that Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Annette O'Toole will join the cast in the role of Sitter Mavis, currently played by Karen Ziemba, who is leaving this production to begin rehearsal of The Prince of New York.

The Traveling Lady is presented by the Cherry Lane Theatre's Founder's Project in a co-production with La Femme Theatre Productions.

Penned by the beloved playwright and master storyteller Horton Foote, The Traveling Lady is the unforgettable tale of an intrepid woman who journeys to a small town in 1950's Texas to reunite with her husband upon his release from prison. A poignant story of loss and redemption, The Traveling Lady looks into the heart and soul of America.

ANNETTE O'TOOLE (Sitter Mavis) Theatre: Man from Nebraska; Southern Comfort (Lucille Lortel award, Drama Desk and Drama League nominations); Hamlet in Bed; Third; Heresy; Kindness; The Seagull; Magnolia. Film/TV include: A Futile and Stupid Gesture, Women Who Kill, We Go On, 48 HRS, Smile, Superman III, Cat People, One on One, "11.22.63," "Halt and Catch Fire," "Smallville," "Law and Order," "The Kennedys of Massachusetts," (Emmy, Golden Globe nominations).

Ms. O'Toole will join Larry Bull (Broadway: Coast of Eutopia), Lynn Cohen (Broadway: Ivanov. Film: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire), Angelina Fiordellisi (Broadway: Zorba. Off-Broadway: Out of the Mouths of Babes), Jean Lichty (Off-Broadway: Nora, A Loss of Roses), George Morfogen (TV: HBO's "Oz". Broadway: A Man for All Seasons), Ron Piretti (Broadway: West Side Story), PJ Sosko (Off-Broadway: Jonathan's Blaze, Row after Row), and Jill Tanner (Broadway: Dividing the Estate, Enchanted April). The production's design team includes Harry Feiner (Scenic & Lighting Design), Theresa Squire (Costume Design), Ryan Rumery (Sound Design & Original Compositions), Paul Huntley (Wig Design), Amy Stoller (Dialect Design & Dramaturg).

Horton Foote's (Playwright) prolific writing career began with Texas Town produced Off-Broadway in 1941. Since then his plays have been produced on Broadway, at theatres across the country and abroad. Plays include Dividing the Estate (Tony nom., Outer Critics Circle, Obie Awards), The Young Man from Atlanta (Pulitzer Prize, Tony nom.), The Chase, The Traveling Lady, Tomorrow and his nine-play epic, The Orphan's Home Cycle (New York Drama Circle, Drama Desk, OCC, Lortel Awards). A master storyteller on screen as well, he received Academy Awards for his adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird and for his original screenplay, Tender Mercies. Foote is the recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal of Drama, PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Award and the National Medal of Arts Award from President Clinton in 2000. His memoirs, Farewell and Beginnings, are published by Scribners.

Austin Pendleton (Director) B.A. Yale University, 1961; studied acting in NY with Herbert Berghof, Uta Hagen and Robert Lewis. Apprenticed at Williamstown Theatre Festival; Acting: IVANOV (CSC), Rosmersholm (Pearl Theatre), The Last Will, Love Drunk and Another Vermeer (Abingdon), Mother Courage and Romeo and Juliet (Public Theatre, Shakespeare In The Park), Limonade Tous Les Jours (The Cell), Small Craft Warnings (Mother Of Invention), The Sunset Limited (Steppenwolf in Chicago, 59e59 in NY). Broadway: The Diary of Anne Frank, Doubles, Hail Scrawdyke! (Derwent Award), The Little Foxes and Fiddler on the Roof, Off-Broadway: The Sorrows of Frederick, The Black Monk, Hughie, Sophistry, Educating Rita, The Last Sweet Days of Isaac (Obie and Drama Desk Awards) And Oh Dad... Title roles in Hamlet, Richard 3, and Richard 2 (Off-Off-Broadway), King Lear, Waiting for Godot and Quills (New Rep, Boston); Ivanov and Tartuffe (Yale Rep); Amadeus (Cleveland Playhouse). Film: Bad City (DVD), Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, A Beautiful Mind, Trial and Error, The Associate, Guarding Tess, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, The Muppet Movie, Starting Over, Front Page, What's up Doc, Skidoo, Catch-22. TV: "100 Centre Street," "Oz," "Homicide," "St. Elsewhere." Directing-Broadway: Spoils of War, The Little Foxes (Tony Nomination), John Gabriel Borkman, The Runner Stumbles and Shelter. Directing-Off-Broadway: Nora (Cherry Lane), Hamlet, Ivanov, Three Sisters (Obie Award) and Uncle Vanya (CSC); Between Riverside and Crazy (Pulitzer Prize) Vieux Carré and Toys in the Attic (Pearl), Fifty Words (MCC). Directing-London: Detroit (National Theatre). Directing-Regional: The Birthday Party, Detroit, Love Song, Frankie and Johnny, Harvey, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Three Sisters, Loose Ends, and Say Goodnight Gracie (Steppenwolf). Fathers and Sons, Beach House, The Master Builder, Miss Julie and The Dance of Death (Long Wharf). King Lear, Electra, Angel Street, and The Cherry Orchard (Whole Theatre). Playwright: Orson's Shadow, Uncle Bob, Booth. Librettist: A Minister's Wife. Recipient of 2007 Drama Desk Special Award as Renaissance Man of the American Theatre.

LA FEMME THEATRE PRODUCTIONS, Robert Dohmen, Jean Lichty, and Austin Pendleton, seeks to explore and highlight the female experience, staging works with significant roles for women. It co-produced with the Cherry Lane a highly acclaimed 2015 production of Bergman's Nora and associate produced the Off-Broadway productions of Inge's A Loss of Roses, which made the WSJ's Best Theatre of 2014, and Odets' Rocket to the Moon, which was nominated for a 2015 Drama Desk Award.

One of the most renowned theatres in the country, Cherry Lane Theatre has produced a large succession of plays by leading writers from F. Scott Fitzgerald to Gertrude Stein, Samuel Beckett, Edward Albee and Harold Pinter. Under the artistic leadership of Angelina Fiordellisi since 1996, Cherry Lane remains devoted to developing and producing new works for the stage through its various programs including the award-winning Mentor Project, which each year pairs established playwrights with emerging writers for a season of dramaturgy, rehearsal, casting and production. Mentor Project recently concluded its 19th season with mentors Lucy Thurber, Stephen Adly Guirgis and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.

Angelina Fiordellisi is Founding Artistic Director of Cherry Lane Theatre; Seri Lawrence and Janio Marrero are Co-Producers of 2017 Mentor Project; Diane Alianiello is General Manager.