Brian Kerwin and Kathy Baker Set for South Coast Rep’s Man From Nebraska

Brian Kerwin and Kathy Baker will head the cast of the South Coast Repertory production of Tracy Letts’ Man From Nebraska, March 12-April 2. The production will be directed by Academy Award winner William Friedkin.

The show will co-star Susan Dalian, Jane A. Johnston, Hal Landon, Jr., Ben Livingston, Laura Niemi, Susannah Schulman, and Julian Stone. The creative team will feature Christopher Barreca (sets), Nephelie Andonyadis (costumes), Lonnie Rafael Alcaraz (lighting), and Drew Dalzell (sound).

The play focuses on Ken Carpenter (to be played by Kerwin), a God-fearing insurance salesman who suffers a crisis of faith and leaves Nebraska on a reckless but revealing journey of self-discovery. Letts is also the author of Killer Joe and Bug. Friedkin won the Academy Award for The French Connection. His other films include The Exorcist, Cruising, and To Live and Die in L.A. He recently directed the film version of Bug starring Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon, and Harry Connick, Jr.

Kerwin appeared on Broadway earlier this season in After the Night and the Music. His many stage credits include Torch Song Trilogy, The Little Foxes, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, How I Learned to Drive and The Goat, Or Who is Sylvia? Baker is the winner of three Emmy Awards for her work on the CBS series Picket Fences, and an Emmy nominee for the TNT movie Door to Door and guest spots on Touched By an Angel, and Boston Public. Her stage credits include Fool For Love, for which she won an Obie Award, Desire Under the Elms, and Aunt Dan and Lemon. Her many films include The Right Stuff, Street Smart, The Cider House Rules, Nine Lives, and the upcoming All The King’s Men.