Estelle Parsons returning to Broadway in ‘Velocity of Autumn’

At an age when most performers have retired, Estelle Parsons keeps on going. The 86-year-old actress will return to Broadway in April in the Eric Coble’s comedic play “The Velocity of Autumn,� which she recently performed at the Arena Stage in Washington in October.

Parsons, who won a supporting actress Academy Award in 1968 for “Bonnie and Clyde,� plays the role of a deeply eccentric 79-year-old Brooklynite who has barricaded herself in her brownstone and armed herself with explosives. She’s visited by her estranged son (Stephen Spinella), who tries to reason with her.

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“The Velocity of Autumn� is scheduled to officially open at the Booth Theatre in New York on April 21. The production will be directed by Molly Smith, who staged the play at the Arena. The play was first performed at the Boise Contemporary Theatre in Idaho in 2011.

Parsons has previously appeared on Broadway in David Lindsay-Abaire’s “Good People,� opposite Frances McDormand, in 2011. She took over the lead role in the Broadway production of “August: Osage County� from Deanna Dunagan and also starred in the national tour, which came to the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in 2009.

She has also directed a number of theater productions, including a 2006 staging of “Salome,� with Al Pacino and Jessica Chastain, in L.A.

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