Kevin Anderson Joins S. Epatha Merkerson in Come Back, Little Sheba

Kevin Anderson will play Doc opposite previously announced star S. Epatha Merkerson as Lola in Manhattan Theatre Club's forthcoming Broadway production of William Inge's Come Back Little Sheba. Directed by Michael Pressman, the revival will begin previews on January 3, 2008, at the Biltmore Theatre and open on January 24.

In addition to Anderson, the cast of Come Back, Little Sheba will include Lyle Kanouse Postman, Zoe Kazan Marie, Brian J. Smith Turk, Brenda Wehle Mrs. Coffman, and Matthew J. Williamson Milkman. Complete casting will be announced in the coming weeks.

Inge's play, which debuted on Broadway in 1950, centers on Lola Merkerson, a faded beauty queen trapped in a lonely marriage to Doc Anderson, a recovering alcoholic on the brink of relapse. When a pretty young woman Kazan becomes a boarder in their cluttered Midwest home, their lives are unsettled as unspoken passions rise to the surface. As the emptiness of their marriage is laid bare, can they find their way back to each other or will they be undone?

Merkerson starred in a Los Angeles production of the play last summer at the Center Theatre's Kirk Douglas Theatre, directed by Pressman and co-starring Alan Rosenberg.

Anderson received a Tony nomination for Death of a Salesman and appeared on Broadway in Brooklyn and Orpheus Descending. Off-Broadway credits include Orphans, The Red Address, Brilliant Traces, Moonchildren and Speaking in Tongues. A member of Steppenwolf Theatre's ensemble, his Chicago credits include Three Sisters, Earthly Possessions and I Never Sang For My Father. London credits include Sunset Boulevard and Dinner with Friends.

Kanouse's Broadway credits include Big River, City of Angels, Chaplin and The Miser. National tours include Guys and Dolls, Chess, 1776, Unsinkable Molly Brown, City of Angels, Jesus Christ Superstar, Crazy For You, South Pacific, Oklahoma! and Fiddler on the Roof.

Kazan is currently appearing off-Broadway in Things We Want, directed by Ethan Hawke, and co-starred earlier this fall in 100 Saints You Should Know. Last season, she was featured in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

Smith, who will be making his Broadway debut in Come Back, Little Sheba appeared off-Broadway last season in The Fabulous Life of a Size Zero.

Wehle is currently appearing on Broadway as Mrs. Pearce in Pygmalion. Off-Broadway credits include Stuff Happens, Talking Heads, Spinning Into Butter, Waste and Pericles. Willliamstown credits include Street Scene, The Cherry Orchard, On the Razzle and The Physicists.

Williamson appeared alongside Merkerson in the Los Angeles production of Come Back, Little Sheba.

The design team for the production will include James Noone scenic design, Jennifer Von Mayrhauser costume design, Jane Cox lighting design, Obadiah Eaves sound design, Peter Golub original music, J. David Brimmer fight director, and David Caparelliotis casting.