Dan Stevens joins Broadway's 'The Heiress'

[May 14, 2012]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Dan Stevens, who is currently shooting the third season of "Downton Abbey," will be staying posh: He's joining the cast of Broadway's "The Heiress."

Producers said late Sunday that Stevens, who plays the aristocratic Matthew Crawley on the hit PBS show, will make his Broadway debut opposite Jessica Chastain and David Strathairn.

"The Heiress" will open this October at a theater to be announced. The play is based on the Henry James novel "Washington Square" and became an Academy Award-winning film.

It will be directed by playwright and director Moises Kaufman.

Stevens' stage credits include the role of Septimus Hodge in David Leveaux's West End production of Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia" and the Doctor in Tom Stoppard and Andre Previn's "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" at the National Theatre.

[Associated Press; By MARK KENNEDY]

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