‘Apple Family’ Cast Loses a Sister for Final Play

The Apple family of Rhinebeck, N.Y., is breaking up. Well, sort of: The Public Theater announced on Thursday that its ambitious production of Richard Nelson’s four-part “Apple Family Plays” would not include the actress J. Smith-Cameron, who played the sister Jane in the first three plays. They had their premieres at the Public during the falls of 2010, 2011 and 2012; the fourth play, “Regular Singing,” will run in repertory this fall with the earlier plays, which drew widespread critical acclaim for their portrait of a politically disillusioned family of four siblings and their beloved uncle, whom they are slowly losing to dementia.

Ms. Smith-Cameron, an Obie Award-winning actress (“The Maids,” “As Bees in Honey Drown”), said in an e-mail that she had a scheduling conflict because of her role on the Sundance Channel television series “Rectify,” which was renewed in May for a second season of 10 episodes. She said she had to pass on the Apple plays because the Public Theater needed a commitment from her in June, before the “Rectify” filming schedule was known. Ms. Smith-Cameron will be replaced by Sally Murphy, who has herself played a sister in a balky family - Ivy Weston in the Broadway production of “August: Osage County.” Ms. Smith-Cameron said she was looking forward to seeing Ms. Murphy in the role.

Also not returning is Shuler Hensley, who played Jane’s boyfriend Tim in the first two plays in the Apple cycle. Tim was written out of the 2012 Apple play, “Sorry,” which ran at the Public last fall when Mr. Hensley was starring in the Off Broadway production of “The Whale.” For “Regular Singing” and repertory run, Tim will be played by Stephen Kunken, a Tony nominee for “Enron.” Mr. Hensley is unavailable because he is in the Broadway productions of “Waiting for Godot” and “No Man’s Land” this fall.

The other Apples - Maryann Plunkett as Barbara, Jay O. Sanders as Richard, Laila Robins as Marian and Jon Devries as Uncle Benjamin - will be returning.

“Regular Singing” and the earlier Apple plays - “That Hopey Changey Thing” and “Sweet and Sad” as well as “Sorry” - will be performed Oct. 22-Dec. 15. Each unfolds in real time on a date with resonance in American political life; the action of “Regular Singing,” for instance, takes place this Nov. 22, the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.