Marsha Mason Stars In ALLS WELL THAT ENDS WELL At Shakespeare Theatre Co

The Shakespeare Theatre Company is currently casting for the first play of the 2010 - 2011 Season: All's Well That Ends Well. Most roles have been filled and an Academy Award Nominee joins the ranks. Marsha Mason makes her STC debut to star as the Countess of Rosillion. She is joined by Bev Appleton as a Lord, Michael Bakkensen as Parolles, Caitlin O'Connell as Widow Capilet, Nick Depinto as Dumaine the Elder, Conrad Feininger as a Lord, Adam Green as Lavatch, Natalie Mitchell as Diana, Barbara Pinolini as Rynalda and Miriana, Tony Roach as Bertram, Miriam Silverman as Helena and Paxton Whitehead as Lafeu.

Marsha Mason recently returned to Broadway in the play Impressionism, with co-starring veteran heavyweights Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons. Mason's current projects include the Off Broadway revival of I Never Sang for My Father at the Clurman Theater and a guest appearance on ABC's hit show, The Middle playing Frankie's mother. Her first major film project was Paul Mazursky's Blume in Love. After Blume came Cinderella Liberty, which partnered Mason with James Caan and earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Mason's work in Liberty also won her first Golden Globe. After meeting and marrying playwright Neil Simon during production of Broadway's The Good Doctor, the two would collaborate in a string of instant classics, including 1977's The Goodbye Girl, co-starring Richard Dreyfuss. Mason then reunited with fellow powerhouse Caan in Chapter Two in 1979. In 1981, Mason won still more accolades with her nuanced turn as an alcoholic in Only When I Laugh. Other notable film projects from Mason's long career include Drop Dead Fred, Heartbreak Ridge, directed by Clint Eastwood, Nick Of Time, 2 Days in the Valley and Miramax's Bride and Prejudice: A Bollywood Musical. On television, Mason has starred on Lipstick Jungle and Army Wives and starred in made-for-television films including Bereft with Tim Daly and The Long Shot. Other noted stage performances include Broadway productions of Steel Magnolias and Night of the Iguana, the Bluelight Theatre production of Michael Christofer's Amazing Grace and the role of Hecuba at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. In 1999, she reunited with Goodbye Girl co-star Dreyfuss, as well as Simon, for a London production of The Prisoner of Second Avenue. Wintertime, at the Second Stage Theatre in New York, followed in 2004. After Prisoner of Second Avenue was recorded by L.A. Theaterworks, Mason and Dreyfuss both received Grammy nominations for Best Comedy Recording.

Artistic Director Michael Kahn directs All's Well That Ends Well playing at the Company's Lansburgh Theatre. "I am very pleased that Marsha Mason is going to play the Countess, which is one of the most wonderful parts that Shakespeare wrote for older women. The role of the Countess needs an actress with both language and emotional range. I have never worked with Marsha, but I knew she was a terrific classical actress and I thought she would be perfect for the part" says Kahn.

All's Well That Ends Well will run from September 7 - October 24, 2010, at the Lansburgh Theatre (450 7th Street NW). For tickets, call the box office at 202.547.1122 or order online at ShakespeareTheatre.org.

Photo credit: Monica Simoes