Sarah Jessica Parker Returns To Stage In 'The Commons Of Pensacola'

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Sarah Jessica Parker is back on stage for the first time in more than a decade.

As CBS 2's Dana Tyler reported, Parker appears in the new off-Broadway play "The Commons of Pensacola," which runs through Jan. 26 at New York City Center's Stage 1.

Blythe Danner and Parker play mother and daughter in a show inspired by the New York headlines. The plot: A mother loses everything after her husband is busted in a Wall Street scam, as family members wonder if they can ever trust each other again.

The Manhattan Theatre Club production is a reunion for the actresses who worked together in the 1995 play "Sylvia."

"Which was a joy," Danner said. "Same theater. Same dressing room."

Parker hasn't appeared on stage since 2001, and this dramatic role shows a different side of the "Sex and the City" star.

She said she's loving the work, but the decision to take on the role wasn't an easy one for the mother of an 11-year-old boy and twin 4-year-old girls. Her son, she says, gave her the OK.

"He said, 'You should do this,'" Parker said. "I mean, he was upset at first. And then I said, 'James, I've not done a play in a long time because I had children, and I really wanted to be home at night, and I wanted to take you to school in the morning. But there comes a point in time when if you keep saying no, the odds of you saying yes get slimmer and slimmer.'

"He was like, 'Fair enough. Fair enough. You're right, Momma. You should do it. We're going to be fine. I don't want you to worry.'"

"The Commons Of Pensacola" is written by first-time playwright and actress Amanda Peet, who said she crafted the story from her curiousity about Bernard Madoff's wife, Ruth.

"What happens to people who are related to notorious people, especially if they're closely related, it really fascinates me -- the idea of accountability, even if you didn't really do anything," Peet said.

Director Lynne Meadow said Peet's play has it all.

"It's about mothers and daughters, and it's not a grim play; there's a lot of humor in it, a lot of feeling, and a lot of dealing with, what is the collateral damage when when someone in your family has done something really wrong," Meadow said.

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