Albee's American Dream & Sandbox Delays Performances; Markle Joins the Cast

Lois Markle has replaced Myra Carter as Grandma in Edward Albee's The American Dream/The Sandbox at the Cherry Lane Theatre. Performances have been postponed until March 21, and opening night now set for April 1, directed by the playwright.

In a statement, Cherry Lane Artistic Director Angelina Fiordellisi said, "Ms. Myra Carter, whom we believe to be brilliant in the role, will be unable to perform due to health issues. It is our hope and wish that she have a speedy recovery." In addition to Markle, the cast includes George Bartenieff as Daddy, Kathleen Butler as Mrs. Barker, Judith Ivey as Mommy, Harmon Walsh as the American Dream, and Jesse Williams as the Angel of Death in The Sandbox.

Written in 1959, The Sandbox introduces one of America's most dysfunctional families, a grasping, materialistic married couple who stage a perverse seaside idyll destined to end in the demise of the wife's aged mother. The American Dream, written in 1960, continues the story of The Sandbox's Mommy and Daddy in an uproarious attack on the substitution of artificial for real values, a startling tale of murder and morality that rocks middle-class ethics to their complacent foundations.

Markle is an Albee veteran, including productions of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at Trinity Square Rep, Three Tall Women on a national tour, A Delicate Balance at Arizona Theatre Company and Albee's Women at Old Globe. Markle's Broadway credits include True West, The Grapes of Wrath, A Warm Body and Calculated Risk.