Helen Hunt Signs On as the Stage Manager in Our Town

Oscar-winning actress Helen Hunt will join the hit off-Broadway revival of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town as the Stage Manager on July 6 for a limited engagement through August 1. Hunt, who starred as Emily Webb in the 1989 Broadway revival (opposite the late Spalding Gray as the Stage Manager), will replace Michael McKean, who departs on July 4. David Cromer’s acclaimed production continues its run at the Barrow Street Theatre.

Hunt won the Best Actress Oscar for As Good as It Gets and four Emmys for the long-running TV series Mad About You. In addition to Our Town, her Broadway credits include Yasmina Reza’s Life (X) 3 and Twelfth Night. In Central Park, she appeared in The Taming of the Shrew. Hunt made her feature film directorial debut with Then She Found Me and stars in the forthcoming films Every Day (with Liev Schreiber) and Soul Surfer (with Dennis Quaid).

Our Town opened on February 26, 2009, and has become the longest-running production of the play in its history. The role of the Stage Manager, described in Wilder’s script as entering with “pipe in mouth,” is rarely played by a woman.

The cast of Our Town also includes Elizabeth Audley as Mrs. Soames, Robert Beitzel as Howie Newsome, Kati Brazda as Mrs. Webb, Will Brill as Joe Crowell, Jr, Nathan Dame as Sam Craig, Roger E. DeWitt as Joe Stoddard, Donna Jay Fulks as Mrs. Gibbs, Emma Galvin as Rebecca Gibbs, Jennifer Grace as Emily Webb, Wilbur Edwin Henry as Professor Willard, Mark Hattan as Constable Warren, David Manis as Mr. Webb, Jonathan Mastro as Simon Stimson, James McMenamin as George Gibbs, Seamus Mulcahy as Wally Webb, Jeff Still as Doc Gibbs, Jason Yachanin as Si Crowell, with Dana Jacks, Lynn Laurence, Kathleen Peirce, Keith Perry and Mark Shock.