New York Dates Set for Baitz's Paris Letter

The Roundabout Theatre Company will present the New York premiere of Jon Robin Baitz's The Paris Letter at its off-Broadway space, the Laura Pels Theatre. The production, directed by Doug Hughes, will begin previews on May 13 and is scheduled to run through August 7.

The Paris Letter centers on Sandy Sonenberg, a man who by pure willpower, and the guidance of a psychiatrist who specializes in gay conversion, has become a successful Wall Street powerhouse with a devoted wife. But the long suppression of his true self eventually leads to a risky involvement with a young entrepreneur and personal and financial ruin. "It's about sex, power and money," Baitz told Broadway.com.

The play, directed by Jonathan Kent, was scheduled to have its world premiere at Boston's Huntington Theatre Company in October 2003 with Ron Rifkin and Kate Nelligan as its stars; however, the production was knocked off the season lineup when the theater's mounting of Butley, originally planned for the winter, was moved up to accommodate star Nathan Lane's return to The Producers. The show was then rumored for a Broadway bow and had a reading, also helmed by Kent, in December 2003.

The Paris Letter is scheduled to have its world premiere at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City, California, where it will run from December 5, 2004 through January 2, 2005. Rifkin will appear in the show in both California and New York.