McKean, Chianese & Plimpton to Star in Memory

Broadway.com has learned that Michael McKean will follow up his current gig in Hairspray with a role in the Atlantic Theater Company world premiere of Woody Allen's A Second Hand Memory, directed by the legendary filmmaker. Kate Blumberg, Dominic Chianese, Nicky Katt, Erica Leerhsen and Martha Plimpton are also set to star.

McKean is currently starring as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray through October 3. While he has limited pre-Hairspray theatrical stage credits, McKean earned a 1990 Theatre World Award for his Broadway debut in the play Accomplice. He first came on the scene in 1976 when he began playing Leonard "Lenny" Kosnowski in the popular sitcom Laverne & Shirley. His subsequent small screen credits include regular roles on Saturday Night Live, Tracey Takes On and Dream On. McKean is also well known for his big screen work, especially cult comedy This Is Spinal Tap, which he co-wrote with Christopher Guest, Rob Reiner and Harry Shearer. His film credits also include D.A.R.Y.L., Clue, Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Short Circuit 2, Earth Girls Are Easy, The Big Picture, Memoir of an Invisible Man, Coneheads, Airheads, The Brady Bunch Movie, Teaching Mrs. Tingle, Mystery Alaska, Best in Show, Beautiful, Little Nicky, Dr. Dolittle 2, The Guru, A Mighty Wind and Auto Focus.

Blumberg, a member of the Atlantic Theater Company, appeared last season in Allen's Writer's Block at the theater. Her other credits there include Sexual Perversity in Chicago, The Hothouse, Wolf Lullaby, Once in a Lifetime, Dangerous Corner, Blithe Spirit and The Women. Blumberg is also known for starring in The Syringa Tree off-Broadway.

Chianese finished up a run as Antonio in the Shakespeare in Central Park production of Much Ado About Nothing on August 8. He has appeared on Broadway in Olivier!, Scratch, The Water Engine, King Richard III, Requiem for a Heavyweight and The Rose Tattoo. His off-Broadway credits include Ballad for a Firing Squad, The Water Engine, Sorrows of Stephen, Plenty, The Return and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. Chianese is best known for playing Corrado "Junior" Soprano in The Sopranos.

Katt is probably best known for playing Harry Senate on the television series Boston Public for two seasons. An actor since childhood, his other series credits include a featured part on Herbie, the Love Bug. Katt's film credits include Goonies, Sister Act, Dazed and Confused, The Babysitter, Strange Days, A Time to Kill, SubUrbia, Johns, Batman & Robin, One True Thing, The Limey, Boiler Room, Rules of Engagement, The Way of the Gun, Insomnia, Full Frontal, Secondhand Lions and School of Rock.

Leerhsen's Gotham theatrical credits include Hurricane for Classic Stage Company. She appeared in the Allen films Hollywood Ending and Anything Else and has also been featured on the silver screen in Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 and the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Plimpton appeared on Broadway last season in Sixteen Wounded. She earned a 2002 Obie Award and a Lucille Lortel nomination for her performance in the Atlantic Theater Company production of Hobson's Choice. Plimpton made her stage debut at age eight in the Public Theater production of The Haggadah. She also appeared off-Broadway in Suburbia, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, Runaways, Boston Marriage and Flesh and Blood. Plimpton has been a Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble member since 1998. She directed Absolution and starred in productions of Hedda Gabler, The Glass Menagerie, The Playboy of the Western World and The Libertine at the regional theater. Plimpton rose to prominence in the mid-1980s after acclaimed turns in the films The River Rat and Running on Empty. Over the years, she has been a constant presence in Hollywood, appearing in over 30 films. Her big screen credits include The Goonies, Parenthood, Samantha, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, Beautiful Girls, I Shot Andy Warhol, Pecker and 200 Cigarettes.

No plot details about A Second Hand Memory have been released. The show is scheduled to begin performances at the Atlantic on November 3.

A production spokesperson could not confirm any casting for the production.