Hawke and O'Byrne to Star in Stoppard's Coast of Utopia at Lincoln Center

Ethan Hawke and Brian F. O'Byrne have been cast in Lincoln Center Theater's upcoming production of Tom Stoppard's three-play, nine-hour historical drama The Coast of Utopia, according to Variety. The trilogy will be directed by Jack O'Brien, who previously worked with Hawke when the actor played Hotspur in O'Brien's 2003 production of Henry IV at Lincoln Center Theater. O'Brien also directed Stoppard's play The Invention of Love for Lincoln Center Theater in 2001.

As previously reported on Broadway.com, The Coast of Utopia spans a period of 30 years during the 19th-century reign of Tsar Nicholas I as it tells the story of a group of Russian intellectuals, headed by the radical theorist and editor Alexander Herzen, the novelist Ivan Turgenev, the literary critic Vissarion Belinsky and the aristocrat-turned-anarchist Michael Bakunin, who lead a band of like-minded countrymen in a revolutionary movement in which they strive to change and fix a political system by using their minds as their only weapon. Lincoln Center Theater has not confirmed which parts Hawke and O'Byrne will play.

Hawke most recently starred in the New Group's 2005 off-Broadway production of Hurlyburly. In addition to Henry IV, he has appeared on Broadway in The Seagull and was a founder of the now-defunct Malaparte Theater Company off-Broadway. His film credits include Lord of War, Taking Lives, Hamlet and the forthcoming Fast Food Nation. He co-starred in and was nominated for a screenwriting Oscar for Before Sunset.

O'Byrne is currently starring in the Manhattan Theater Club's Broadway production of Shining City. He was nominated for a Tony Award last season for Doubt and won the Best Featured Actor Tony the previous season for Frozen. O'Byrne is also known for his work in the plays of Martin McDonagh, including the Broadway productions of The Beauty Queen of Leenane and The Lonesome West.

The Coast of Utopia will play at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater. Part One—Voyage is scheduled to begin performances on October 17 and open on November 5, Part Two—Shipwreck will start on December 5 and open on December 21, and Part Three—Salvage is set to begin on January 30 and have its official bow on February 15. During the final three and a half weeks of the production's run, audiences will have the opportunity to see all three parts in succession.

According to Variety, Bob Crowley and Scott Pask will design the sets, Catherine Zuber will design the costumes and Brian MacDevitt, Kenneth Posner and Natasha Katz will be the show's lighting designers. The Coast of Utopia premiered at the National Theater in London in 2002 in a production directed by Trevor Nunn.