Ed Harris Will Return to the Stage in OTHER DESERT CITIES With Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Allison Janney

Ed Harris has revealed that he will be returning to the stage this year. According to an interview with The Oklahoman, the actor shared that he will star alongside Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Allison Janney in a production of Jon Robin Baitz’s family drama, Other Desert Cities. Rehearsals are set to start in August.

Harris was last seen on Broadway in 2021 as a replacement for the role of Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird. He also appeared on Broadway in Taking Sides (1996) and Precious Sons (1986). His other stage credits include Buried Child (Off-Broadway and West End), The Jacksonian (Off-Broadway), and Afternoon Tea (New York reading).

“I just need it for my sanity,” Harris said of returning to the stage. “There’s one thing about the film business and TV business is that you spend a lot of time waiting in your trailer or whatever. You could be on the set for 12 hours and literally be in front of the camera for maybe 10 minutes at the most on any given day. And after a while, I like acting. … I like to work. I don’t like sitting on my a– waiting to work.”

“When you do a play, every night, eight times a week, you show up, and you do the play. And you know what you’re doing and when. So, I like them both, but I am looking forward to getting back on the stage.”

No further details have been announced about the production at this time, including when and where it is set to run.

Read the original story on The Oklahoman.

About Other Desert Cities

Other Desert Cities premiered Off-Broadway at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center Theater in 2011, starring Stockard Channing, Linda Lavin, Stacy Keach, Thomas Sadoski, and Elizabeth Marvel.

The play transferred to Broadway at the Booth Theatre later that year, with Judith Light replacing Lavin and Rachel Griffiths replacing Marvel. The production received five nominations at the 66th Tony Awards, including for Best Play, Best Actress in a Play (Stockard Channing), Best Featured Actress in a Play (Judith Light), Best Scenic Design (John Lee Beatty), and Best Lighting Design (Kenneth Posner). Judith Light won for Best Featured Actress in a Play.

Other Desert Cities was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

In the play,  Brooke Wyeth returns home to Palm Springs after a six year absence to celebrate Christmas with her parents, her brother, and her aunt. Brooke announces that she is about to publish a memoir dredging up a pivotal and tragic event in the family’s history – a wound they don’t want reopened. In effect, she draws a line in the sand and dares them all to cross it.