Hartford artistic director Michael Wilson will stage the new work at his Connecticut company's home for a Oct. 13-Nov. 11 run.
Based on the life and career of A. Everett ("Chick") Austin, Jr., Chick, The Great Osram "reveals the complex and passionate man whose energy and romantic vision inspired, infuriated and entertained," according to production notes.
Sella will play the title character — a "passionate and rebellious new director" who in 1927 took the reins of Hartford's art museum, the Wadsworth Atheneum — opposite Graham as Austin's wife Helen.
Both actors reprise their roles from the staged reading of the play, which was developed during the 2006 Brand:NEW Fall Festival of New Work. The Hartford Heritage Project commission will be workshopped further in New York City before making its world premiere at Hartford.
Sella played on Broadway in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Side Man, Cabaret and My Fair Lady and Off-Broadway in Stuff Happens, Five By Tenn, Boys and Girls, Kit Marlowe and Kean. He recently performed in the London revival of Edward Albee's The Lady from Dubuque starring Maggie Smith. Seen on Broadway in The Constant Wife, Dinner at Eight, Fortune's Fool and Honour, Graham has also appeared Off-Broadway in The Long Christmas Ride Home, Psych, Crimes of the Heart, The Turn of the Screw, As Bees in Honey Drown and All's Well That Ends Well. She has also been seen at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Romeo and Juliet and Light Up the Sky.
Playwright Grimm has penned Measure for Pleasure, Kit Marlowe and Sheridan, or, Schooled In Scandal as well as the forthcoming Steve and Idi. He also translated and adapted The Learned Ladies of Park Avenue from Molière's Les Femmes Savantes.
Thornton Wilder's Our Town will kick off the new season at Hartford (Aug. 30-Sept. 30), which will also include A Christmas Carol – A Ghost Story of Christmas (Nov. 23-Dec. 29), Jeffrey Sams' Zerline's Tale (Jan. 10-Feb. 10, 2008), Lydia Diamond's The Bluest Eye (Feb. 21-March 23, 2008), Theresa Rebeck's The Scene (April 3-May 4, 2008) and Tennessee Williams' The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore (May 15-June 15, 2008).
Hartford Stage is located at 50 Church Street in downtown Hartford, CT. Tickets for current shows are available by calling (860) 527-5151. For more information visit hartfordstage.org.
