Katie Holmes to Star in HEDDA GABLER at The Old Globe

Katie Holmes will kick off The Old Globe's 2026 season as she leads a new production of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler. The Globe’s Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein, who directed Holmes in the acclaimed Off Broadway production of The Wanderers in 2023, is set to direct this fresh take on the Ibsen classic.

The Globe-commissioned, vivid new version of the play is by Erin Cressida Wilson (Secretary, The Girl on the Train). Hedda Gabler will play on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage at The Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe’s Conrad Prebys Theatre Center in San Diego’s Balboa Park. Performances run February 7 – March 8, 2026.

Holmes brings to life an iconic role in one of the defining masterpieces of modern theatre. Hedda and Tesman have just returned from their honeymoon—and the cracks in their marriage are already showing. Bored and restless, Hedda tries to control those around her. But as her schemes tighten, her own world begins to unravel.

The play was last seen on Broadway in 2009 led by Mary-Louise Parker. 

About Katie Holmes 

As an actress who has received critical acclaim for a spectrum of diversified roles on stage and screen, Katie Holmes has appeared in several notable films, ranging from the action blockbuster Batman Begins, directed by Christopher Nolan, to critically acclaimed art house pictures such as Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm and Peter Hedges’ Pieces of April. In 2021, Holmes launched her production company Lafayette Pictures. Her most recent project under the banner is Rare Objects, which she co-wrote, directed and starred in. She also wrote, directed, produced and starred in Alone Together along with Jim Sturgess, Derek Luke, Melissa Leo, and Zosia Mamet which premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival and was later released by IFC films.

Holmes recently starred in The Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of The Wanderers directed by Barry Edelstein. She made her Broadway debut in the 2008 limited run of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, in which Holmes starred opposite John Lithgow, Patrick Wilson and Diane Wiest. Her portrayal of “Ann” garnered glowing reviews and established her as an accomplished actress on both screen and stage. In 2012, Holmes was also in the Broadway production Dead Accounts opposite Nobert Leo Butz. Holmes’ film career began in 1996 when she landed the role of ‘Libbets Casey,’ opposite Tobey Maguire and Sigourney Weaver in Ang Lee’s award-winning drama The Ice Storm. Since then, she has worked with some of Hollywood’s most prominent actors and directors.

Her credits include Forest Whitaker’s First Daughter, Jason Reitman’s Thank You for Smoking, Sam Raimi’s The Gift, Stephen Gaghan’s Abandon, Doug Liman’s Go, Joel Schumacher’s Phone Booth, Simon Curtis’s Women in Gold, Steven Soderbergh’s Logan Lucky, Keith Gordon’s The Singing Detective, Kevin Williamson’s Teaching Mrs. Tingle, Brahms: The Boy II, The Secret, Curtis Hanson’s Wonder Boys, David Nutter’s Disturbing Behavior and the Guillermo Del Toro produced thriller, Don’t Be Afraid of The Dark.