Entertainment

Anne Hathaway Haters: Listen Up

by Alanna Bennett

She may be making the rounds promoting her new indie film Song One , but it looks like Anne Hathaway is ready to take to the stage: According to EW, Anne Hathaway's got a one woman show all lined up in New York this spring, titled Grounded — and, in addition to including only her, it looks like a pretty political play. Intriguing!

It's also one that will throw Hathaway into a collaboration with well-known theater director Julie Taymor, who's best known for her work directing Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, as well as Lion King and Across the Universe.

It's a new and different gig for Hathaway, and certainly one that's intriguing — in fact, it sounds like it may possibly be a great project to sway those who hold a less than favorite stance on the actress. Ever since "Hathahaters" became a term commonly associated with the Oscar-winner it's been interesting to watch the direction of Hathaway's career: First, she took some time out of the spotlight — which was smart after all the unearned vitriol hurled her way during the 2013 Oscar season — and has since stuck to more low-key projects like the indie Song One.

Though she's definitely not on a path of career redemption — she really didn't do anything that requires redeeming, at all — it seems she may be on one of reminding the world why she's one of Hollywood's most recognizable creative people in the first place. Her work this past year shows a nice bit of range, and this new one woman show only adds to that: Big blockbuster Christopher Nolan movie? Check. Small indie romance with sadness and singing but not so much sadness and singing that we can't help but think of Les Mis? Check. Small one-woman show only accessible to New York theater-goers? Check. There's really no denying it at this point, guys: The girl is talented.

The play in question, Grounded, is by George Brant, and — as The New York Times ' Felicia R. Lee described it — it's "a poetic monologue about a hotshot fighter pilot sidelined by pregnancy and reassigned to manage drone strikes." The play won the 2012 Smith Prize, which honors new plays on America politics. Hathaway, of course, will play the main fighter pilot character.

The play will be directed by Taymor, and run out of New York's Public Theater through a limited engagement from April 7 to May 17.