NEW YORK: Actor Ethan Hawke is returning to Broadway in a production of 'Macbeth', with performances set to begin in October at Lincoln Center, the performing arts center said.

'Macbeth' will be directed by Jack O'Brien, who helmed the acclaimed 2006-2007 production of Tom Stopper's 'The Coast of Utopia' trilogy winning a Tony award, and for which Hawke received a best actor nomination.

Opening night is set for November 21 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. The bloody Shakespeare play, among his best-known and most-performed works, was one of four productions the non-profit theater announced on Thursday for the upcoming season.

Hawke, 42, is currently starring in the horror film 'The Purge', as well as the acclaimed third part of the 'Midnight' series of films, 'Before Midnight' opposite Julie Delpy.

The actor rose to fame as a movie star more than two decades ago starting with such films as 'Dead Poets Society' and 'Reality Bites', and starring roles in 'Gattaca' and 'Training Day', which won him an Oscar nomination.

But in the past decade he has increasingly turned toward stage acting, calling it his "first love," as well as independent films such as 'Before the Devil Knows You're Dead'.

He starred in Shakespeare's 'Henry IV' in 2003, also directed by O'Brien, as well as 'The Seagull', a revival of 'Hurlyburly', 'The Cherry Orchard' and 'The Winter's Tale'.

Lincoln Center's other productions for next season include 'Domesticated' by Bruce Norris, 'Act One', an adaptation of Moss Hart's autobiography, and 'The City of Conversation' by Anthony Giardina.