Annette Bening
returns to Broadway after two decades

After almost two decades off the stage, Annette Bening has announced her return to Broadway next spring in a new play by the Australian writer Joanna Murray-Smith, reports The New York Times.

The play, titled The Female of the Species, follows a feminist author as she struggles with an extreme case of writer's block. Producers David Richenthal and Mary Beth O'Connor told The New York Times they plan to begin performances on April 11. Tony-award winner Michael Mayer will direct.

Bening has been off Broadway since 1988 after her Tony-nominated performance in Tina Howe's Coastal Disturbances. While she has done some theater in Los Angeles, her schedule was too hectic to consider larger productions.

"Because of the direction my life took with movies and kids," she said in a phone interview with the New York Times, "it was logistically really hard for me to make it all work."

She also wanted to perform in something fresh.

"It's hard to find new plays," Bening said to the paper. "There are classics and other things I'm interested in doing, but to find a new play - that's a joy." (The Advocate)