Albee's American Dream and Sandbox Extend; Mulgrew to Replace Ivey

The Cherry Lane Theatre has announced a four-week extension of its acclaimed revival of Edward Albee's one-act plays The American Dream/The Sandbox, through May 17. Directed by the playwright, the production opened on March 21 and had been scheduled to close on April 19. Kate Mulgrew will assume the role of Mommy, replacing Judith Ivey, "who already had other commitments," according to a press annoucement.

Both of Albee's early one-acts premiered at the Cherry Lane Theatre in the 1960s. In The Sandbox, the playwright 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 continues the story of Mommy and Daddy, exploring the hollowness of the American dream and the fallacy of the ideal American family.

Mulgrew has starred on the New York stage in Iphigenia 2.0, Our Leading Lady, Tea at Five, Black Comedy and Titus Andronicus as well as in the London production of The Exonerated. Film credits include Star Trek: Nemesis, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, Throw Mama From The Train and A Stranger Is Watching. Television credits include: Ryan's Hope, Mrs. Columbo, Cheers, Captain Kathryn Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager and The Black Donnellys.

The cast of The American Dream and The Sandbox includes George Bartenieff as Daddy, Kathleen Butler as Mrs. Barker, Lois Markle as Grandma, Harmon Walsh as the American Dream, and Jesse Williams as the Angel of Death in The Sandbox.