June Squibb Exits DTC's DRIVING MISS DAISY; Annalee Jefferies Steps in

Dallas Theater Center announced today that Annalee Jefferies will replace June Squibb in the theater's upcoming production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Driving Miss Daisy. Jefferies, a Texas native, returns to DTC for the first time since her performance in The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead. Squibb is leaving the production due to professional conflicts.

"I am very disappointed that I won't be there," said Squibb. "I do hope that we'll be able to do another production soon. I had a wonderful time with Dividing the Estate and I look forward to the opportunity to be back on the Dallas Theater Center stage."

Jefferies has a long history with the Texas stage, including a 20-year residency with the Alley Theatre in Houston. She's appeared in several award-winning theatrical productions, including the nine hour trilogy of Horton Foote's The Orphan's Home Cycle and her TV credits include Dallas.

"I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Annalee Jefferies on Driving Miss Daisy," said director Joel Ferrell. "Ms. Jefferies is known for the complexity and depth of her portrayals and I have wanted to collaborate with her for years. Watching her create Daisy Werthan will be pure joy."

Driving Miss Daisy opens Thursday, October 16 with previews. Press night is Friday, October 24and the show runs through November 16. Tickets to Driving Miss Daisy are on sale now at www.DallasTheaterCenter.org and by phone at (214) 880-0202.

ANNALEE JEFFERIES is very happy to return to DTC where she last appeared in the one woman show The Blonde the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead. She spent 20 years as a resident company member at the Alley Theatre (1986-2007). Some of her favorite roles were in A Streetcar Named Desire, Angels in America, Bad Dates, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Hedda Gabler, Danton's Death, Orpheus Descending, Moon for the Misbegotten and The Old Friends. She was in the nine hour trilogy of Horton Foot's Orphan's Home Cycle in New York, directed by Michael Wilson, which won the Drama Desk and Tony awards for "Theatrical Event of the Season" in 2010. She played Violet in Suddenly Last Summer (Westport Country Playhouse). Awards include Best Performer Ct., Hannah in Night of the Iguana (Hartford Stage); Best Actress Ct., Amanda in The Glass Menagerie (Kansas City Rep.), which was among the Wall Street Journal's best 10 productions of 2009. She toured England in John Barton's ten hour epic Tantalus, directed by Sir Peter Hall. She did 3 years as a resident company member at the Arena Stage (1978-1981). Film: Hellion (Sundance, SXSW), Arlo and Julie (SXSW), The Sideways Light (World premiere this fall), The Girl (Sundance), Monsters, Violets Are Blue, and No Mercy. Television: Dallas 2013, PBS American Experience War of the Worlds 2013. She trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London. She currently lives on a farm in Brenham, Texas.