Debbie Allen, Ellen Barkin, Mario Cantone, Terry Kinney, Jennifer Morrison, Lily Rabe to Star in New Pilots

Stage veterans Debbie Allen, Ellen Barkin, Mario Cantone, Terry Kinney, Jennifer Morrison, and Raphael Sbarge have been signed to upcoming pilots, according to recent reports.

Allen, who has both acted and directed on Broadway, will play a recurring role on ABC’s drama pilot Grace, about a famous choreographer (played by Eric Roberts) who tends to sleep with his dancers and has three daughters with different mothers. Allen is one of those mothers.

Cantone, whose Broadway credits include both his one-person show and the musical Assassins, and Barkin, who will star in the upcoming Broadway revival of The Normal Heart, have been cast in NBC’s drama pilot A Mann’s World. The show will focus on a 50-something straight Beverly Hills hairdresser (to be played by Don Johnson), who is struggling to stay young and relevant. Cantone will play the openly gay salon manager; Barkin will appear as his ex-wife.

Kinney, a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, will co-star in CBS’ police drama Rookies.

Morrison and Sbarge will co-star in a drama pilot for ABC, Once Upon a Time, about a woman who finds herself in a small town, where the magic and mystery of fairy tales may be real.

Rabe, seen earlier this season in the Broadway revival of The Merchant of Venice, will play a recurring role in Fox’s drama pilot Exit Strategy, which stars the previously reported Ethan Hawke as the head of a team of experts associated with the CIA.