Director Pamela Hunt Leaves Dr. Sex; Ethan McSweeny On Board

Director Pamela Hunt, best known for her work on The Musical of Musicals: The Musical!, has left the off-Broadway musical Dr. Sex, currently in previews, because of creative differences. Helmer Ethan McSweeny has been brought on as a "friend of the production" to work on the tuner, but he will receive no official credit. No one will be credited for directing the show.

McSweeny directed Gore Vidal's The Best Man on Broadway and Never the Sinner: The Leopold and Loeb Story, The Persians and Sabina off-Broadway. His regional credits include mountings of The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Side Man, Gross Indecency, Master Class, Hydriotaphia, Mad About the Bard, Six Degrees of Separation, Ctrl+Alt+Delete, Wit and the world premiere of Mr. Marmalade at South Coast Rep. McSweeny served as associate artistic director of the George Street Playhouse from 2000-2004 and was the assistant director of the Shakespeare Theatre from 1993-1997. He and Vivienne Benesch are now the artistic directors of the Chautauqua Theater Company. McSweeny is also currently the consulting artistic irector for the National Actor's Theatre in New York City.

Set in the 1930s and '40s in Bloomington, Indiana, Dr. Sex explores what happens when Professor Kinsey Brian Noonan, tired of cataloguing American gall wasps, discovers his life's work in human sexual research. The musical has a score by Larry Bortniker and a book by Larry Bortniker and Sally Deering.

Despite the director switch, the cast of Dr. Sex is remaining the same. In addition to Noonan, the show features Jennifer Simard as Clara Kinsey and Christopher Corts as Wally. Jared Bradshaw, Linda Cameron, David Edwards, Chrisy Faber, Colleen Hawks and Benjie Randall comprise the ensemble. The design team includes set designer by Rob Bissinger, costume designer John Carver Sullivan and lighting designer Richard Winkler a change from the originally announced Mary Jo Dondlinger.

Dr. Sex has been in previews at The Peter Norton Space since August 26. It is scheduled to open on September 20 and end its limited engagement on October 30.