Theater News

Estelle Parsons, Stephen Spinella to Star in Broadway’s The Velocity of Autumn

Estelle Parsons
Estelle Parsons
(© Tristan Fuge)

Academy Award winner Estelle Parsons and two-time Tony Award winner Stephen Spinella will star in Eric Coble’s The Velocity of Autumn, to begin Broadway performances Spring 2013 at a theater to be announced. Molly Smith will direct.

The play centers on an 80-year-old artist who has locked herself in her Brooklyn brownstone with a pile of Molotov cocktails. When her youngest son pays her a visit after a 20-year-absence, it’s the emotional bombs you need to watch out for.

The production will feature scenic design by Eugene Lee, costume design by Linda Cho, lighting design by Howell Binkley and sound design by Darron L. West.

Parsons is currently finishing up an Off-Broadway run in AdA – Author Directing Author and plays a small but pivotal role in the Broadway production of Nice Work If You Can Get It. Recent Broadway credits also include August: Osage County and Good People, and she received Tony Award nominations for her performances in Morning’s at Seven, Miss Margarida’s Way, And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little, and The Seven Descents of Myrtle. Parsons won the Academy Award for Bonnie and Clyde and was Oscar-nominated for Rachel, Rachel.

Spinella won two Tony and two Drama Desk Awards for originating the role of Prior Walter in Tony Kushner’s two-part epic Angels in America. Other Broadway credits include A View from the Bridge, Electra, James Joyce’s The Dead, Our Town and Spring Awakening.