The Heiress (1947 play)

The Heiress
Written by	Ruth Goetz Augustus Goetz
Date premiered	29 September 1947
Place premiered	Biltmore Theatre New York City
Original language	English
Subject	Period 1850 heiress slowly gathers confidence in order to take her revenge
Genre	Drama
Setting	1850, the home of Doctor Sloper in Washington Square

The Heiress is a 1947 play by American playwrights Ruth and Augustus Goetz adapted from the 1880 Henry James novel Washington Square.

The play opened on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre on September 29, 1947 and closed on September 18, 1948 after 410 performances. Directed by Jed Harris the cast starred Wendy Hiller, Basil Rathbone, and Peter Cookson. The production then opened in London at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in 1949 starring Ralph Richardson and Peggy Ashcroft and ran for 644 performances.

The play has been revived four times on Broadway:

The 1995 production starred Cherry Jones as Catherine Sloper, Philip Bosco as Dr. Austin Sloper, Jon Tenney as Morris Townsend, and Frances Sternhagen as Lavinia Penniman and was directed by Gerald Gutierrez. The play won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play, with Jones, Sternhagen and director Gerald Gutierrez winning Tonys as well.

A Broadway revival began previews in October 2012 at the Walter Kerr Theatre for a limited engagement, with direction by Moisés Kaufman and starring Jessica Chastain, David Strathairn, Dan Stevens, and Judith Ivey.

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