Associated Press

Julia Stiles and Bill Pullman are shown in a scene from the Los Angeles production of "Oleanna."

| Amy Matzke-Fawcett

amy.matzke-fawcett@roanoke.com, 381-1674

Actress Julia Stiles, well-known for her television and film roles including the Jason Bourne series, will appear at Virginia Tech on Monday.

Stiles, 29, will participate in a question-and-answer session with assistant theater professor and director Bob McGrath in the Squires Studio Theatre.

Stiles will play the lead role in McGrath's latest production, "Persephone," in the 2010 Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music from Oct. 26-30.

"Persephone" is the latest collaboration of the director and actress, McGrath said.

When Stiles was 9 years old, she saw one of McGrath's shows at the Lincoln Theatre, and wrote him a letter saying she'd do anything to be in one, he said.

"Then, until she was 18, we had her in a show pretty much every year," McGrath said. "We've remained friends."

They'd hoped to work together again, and Stiles was a fit for "Persephone," McGrath said.

The play, an adaptation of the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone, will premiere at Tech on Sept. 29. The show will feature music and visual projections and is set "as if it were being performed in 1895," McGrath said.

"Lightning at Our Feet," another McGrath production in a similar style, was performed at Tech in 2008.

McGrath's shows are produced with the help of the New York-based Ridge Theatre, of which he is a co-founder and artistic director. It is known for its use of multimedia to redefine stage shows.

Stiles was cast to play the leading lady in the Tech version of the show until she was cast in the hit Showtime TV show "Dexter." Instead, the role will be filled by Virginia Tech student Kara Drechsel.

Stiles, on set of the television show, was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Students from the School of Performing Arts and Cinema get first pick of seating for the question-and-answer session. Any seats left open five minutes before the session starts will become available to the public, said Susan Sanders, spokeswoman for the department.

McGrath said he thinks students can learn from Stiles' experience as an actress.

"I would hope they would get a chance to learn what a professional life in theater and film is like," he said.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the event had 51 guests attending, according to a Facebook group dedicated to the event. The theater seats 222, according to the University Unions and Student Activities ticketing office website.