Richard Eyre to Direct Broadway-Aimed Play About Hollywood Producer Robert Evans

Jon Robin Baitz is at work on a new play about Hollywood producer Robert Evans. The piece, as yet untitled, will be directed by Richard Eyre and is aiming for a Broadway opening during the 2010-2011 season.

Evans, who had a brief career in acting, has been a producer of such movies as Chinatown, The Cotton Club, Marathon Man, Popeye, and Urban Cowboy. Baitz’s play will be based on both Evans’ published memoir The Kid Stays in the Picture and his unpublished The Fat Lady Sang.

A Pulitzer finalist, a Guggenheim and NEA fellow, and winner of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, Baitz’s plays include The Film Society, The Substance of Fire, Three Hotels, A Fair Country, Ten Unknowns, Mizlansky/Zilinsky, a new version of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, and The Paris Letter. His television credits include Brothers & Sisters, The West Wing, and Alias.

Eyre received Tony nominations for his direction of The Crucible and Skylight, and is also a multi-Olivier Award winner. He is currently represented on Broadway for his direction of the musical, Mary Poppins.