Cate Blanchett to Make Directorial Debut  9/14/05

Actress Cate Blanchett is set to return to the Sydney Theatre Company (STC) in her native Australia - as a director.

Last year (04), the Oscar-winning Aviator star headlined the STC's critically acclaimed Hedda Gabler, and she's now making a return for the 2006 season to go behind the scenes.

In December 2006, Blanchett will make her directorial debut with Harold Pinter's "A Kind of Alaska", which will play on a double bill with David Mahmet's Reunion, helmed by her husband Andrew Upton.

Blanchett recently announced plans to star in a movie in her homeland for the first time in eight years, after signing up to play a former heroin addict in low-budget movie Little Fish.