"I Am Terrified": Katie Holmes on Returning to the Stage in Roundabout's The Wanderers

Screen star Katie Holmes visited The Tonight Show January 17 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of her first film, The Ice Storm, and to talk about how "terrified" she feels rehearsing for her upcoming Off-Broadway debut in The Wanderers.

"Some actors, they get into it, and they get used to it, and they roll in and they do it. I'm not that person. I have to read through my lines every day, and I am terrified until closing night. One time, I went blank, and I forgot a line, and it was so scary."

Holmes and host Jimmy Fallon commiserated over the pressure of leading a company, and their admiration of Holmes' costars, including Eddie Kaye Thomas, who Holmes has known for more than two decades. Holmes also shared her tendency toward superstition, which had lead to her eating more salads with chicken than she could possibly count.

"When I work, I tend to become very superstitious. I have these different rituals; if I eat a certain meal, and the show goes well, then I only eat that meal for the run of the show. It drives everyone around me crazy."

The Wanderers, now in rehearsals, will begin previews January 26 at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre. Opening night is set for February 16.

The cast includes Holmes, in her Roundabout debut, as Julia Cheever, Sarah Cooper as Sophie, Lucy Freyer as Esther, Dave Klasko as Schmuli, and Eddie Kaye Thomas as Abe.

In The Wanderers, Orthodox Jews Esther and Schmuli are newly married. Secular Jew Abe is a famous novelist who believes he can write his own future until an unexpected email from a movie star, Julia Cheever, puts his marriage to the test.

The upcoming production will have sets by Marion Williams, costumes by David Israel Reynoso, lighting by Kenneth Posner, and sound and original music by Jane Shaw. Barry Edelstein directs.

See photos of the cast in rehearsals below: