Merkerson set to star in new play

S. Epatha Merkerson, who plays the no-nonsense New York cop, Lt. Anita Van Buren, on “Law & Order,” is poised to become a modern-day Hester Prynne in Suzan-Lori Parks’ new play based on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 novel, “The Scarlet Letter.”

Quoting sources at New York’s Public Theater, where performances are scheduled to begin Feb. 25, the New York Times and Broadway.com report that Merkerson is close to signing on as the lead -- a role for which rapper-turned-actress Queen Latifah previously had been mentioned as a candidate. Representatives of Merkerson and the theater could not be reached Friday. Mos Def, who starred in Parks’ Pulitzer Prize-winning “Topdog/Underdog,” also is in the cast.

Merkerson’s stage credentials include a 1990 Tony nomination for her performance as Berniece in August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson” and a 1992 Obie for “I’m Not Stupid,” a play written by David E. Rodriguez, a 17-year-old high school student.

While the Public’s production is billed as the world premiere, Parks directed a small-theater run of her play in February 2000 at Houston’s DiverseWorks, an alternative performance space. The director of the New York production will be Michael Greif, the former La Jolla Playhouse artistic director known for directing the original Tony-award-winning production of “Rent.”

Mike Boehm