TV's Olivia Wilde Headed Off-Broadway in Beauty on the Vine

Olivia Wilde, a star of NBC's new drama The Black Donnellys, has signed on for the lead roles of Lauren/L2/L3 in the world premiere of Zak Berkman's Beauty on the Vine, a production of the Epic Theater Center directed by David Schweitzer. The play will begin previews off-Broadway at Theater Row's Clurman Theatre on April 23 and open on May 2, running through June 3.

In addition to Wilde, the cast of Beauty on the Vine will include Helen Piper Coxe, Barbara Garrick, Howard Overshown, Jessica Richardson and Victor Slezak.

Described as a play for the Britney/Lohan generation, Beauty on the Vine is a romantic fable about the power of the human face. When a young female star of right-wing radio is brutally murdered, her husband and father investigate the reasons behind the violence. They discover a world where young women transform themselves through plastic surgery to look like their idols and mothers lose their daughters to the illusion of popularity and power. Beauty on the Vine is a journey through the looking glass into a disturbing Wonderland where appearances are always deceiving.

Before being cast as a working-class Irish widow in The Black Donnellys, Wilde appeared in the Fox series Skin and appeared as Alex Kelly in 13 episodes of The O.C. Recent film credits include Alpha Dog opposite Emile Hirsch, Justin Timberlake and Bruce Willis and Turistas opposite Josh Duhamel. She has completed two more independent films, The Death and Life of Bobby Z opposite Paul Walker and Laurence Fishburne, and Conversations With Other Women opposite Helena Bonham Carter and Aaron Eckhart. The daughter of journalists Andrew and Leslie Cockburn, Wilde is an advocate for Doctors Without Borders.

Scenic design for Beauty on the Vine is by Narelle Sissons, lighting design is by Justin Townsend, sound design is by Ryan Rumery and costume design is by Gabrielle Berry.

In conjunction with the production, Epic will launch a "Beyond Beauty Initiative" bringing together women of diverse backtrounds for workshops and post-show discussions to explore how definitions of beauty, power and success impact society as a whole. Producer Cecilia Peck is honorary chair of the committee.