Judith Ivey and Bill Pullman Cast in D.C. The Subject Was Roses

Bill Pullman and Judith Ivey will star in a new production of Frank D. Gilroy’s award-winning play The Subject Was Roses at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The production, to be directed by Leonard Foglia, will run Janaury 7-29, with an official opening slated for January 11. Additional casting will be announced shortly.

In the play, World War II soldier Timmy Cleary returns home to find his parents are strangers — to him and each other, and a simple gesture leads to domestic warfare. The play won both the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play in 1965. The 1968 film version, which starred Martin Sheen and Jack Albertson re-creating their stage roles alongside Patricia Neal, won an Oscar for Albertson as Best Supporting Actor.

The production will feature sets by Neil Patel, costumes by Jess Goldstein, lighting by Donald Holder, and sound design by David Van Tieghem. Foglia’s directing credits include the recent Broadway revival of On Golden Pond and Master Class

Pullman was seen on Broadway in The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, and has starred in such films as Independence Day and Sleepless in Seattle. Ivey is the winner of two Tony Awards, for Steaming, and Hurlyburly. She has also appeared on Broadway in Follies, Voices in the Dark, and Park Your Car in Harvard Yard, for which she received a Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Play.