Faye Dunaway Fired From Broadway-Bound Show After Reportedly Slapping a Crew Member

Faye Dunaway
Nile Scott Studios

Producers for the show plan to move the production to the West End with a different actress.

Faye Dunaway has been fired.

In a statement to ET, reps for Tea at Five, a one-woman play that was in the midst of an out-of-town tryout in Boston, confirmed that the 78-year-old actress, who was set to star as Katharine Hepburn, had been fired from the production.

"The producers of Tea at Five announced today that they have terminated their relationship with Faye Dunaway," the statement read. 

"Plans are in development for the play to have its West End debut early next year with a new actress to play the role of Katharine Hepburn," the statement added, referencing a change from producers Ben Feldman and Scott Beck's previously announced plan to take the production to Broadway in 2019 with Dunaway attached. 

The reps for Tea at Five, though, insist that the potential Broadway run wasn't canceled as a result of Dunaway's termination, noting that "no dates for Broadway were announced." 

Following Dunaway's firing from the revival of Matthew Lombardo's one-woman play, a story that the New York Post broke on Wednesday, sources told the outlet that the actress was creating a "hostile" and "dangerous" environment behind the scenes.

The July 10 performance, which came near the end of a three-week engagement from June 22 to July 14, was canceled "moments before curtain because Dunaway slapped and threw things at crew members who were trying to put on her wig," sources told the paper.

According to source comments to the Post, Dunaway "seemed committed to the role, and fun to be around," but was frequently late for rehearsals and "refused to allow anyone to look at her" while performing. Sources also claimed to the outlet that Dunaway was unable to learn her lines and was being fed them through an earpiece during the show's Boston run.

ET has reached out to reps for Dunaway for comment.

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