�CSI� Actor William Petersen Plans A Return To Chicago Theater

As the seventh season of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation opens tonight, it may mark the beginning of the end for William Petersen�s role as Gil Grissom as we now know it.

Petersen�s contract with CBS is up at the end of this season. Petersen makes no secret of the fact that he hopes to return home. �Home� for the Evanston-born actor is the Chicago stage. His career began at Chicago�s Victory Gardens.

In a move that would take his career full-circle, Petersen hopes to appear in one of Victory Garden�s 2007 productions. Petersen is currently in talks with artistic director Dennis Zacek. �We�re going to do a play as soon as we can get enough time to make it worth everyone�s while,� says Petersen. �I plan to go back to Chicago and do plays starting next year.�

Zacek is having a script custom-made for Petersen. It�s not finished yet, but Zacek hopes to have the script ready for Petersen to read when the actor attends the Victory Gardens season-opening gala on October 14.

In preparation for his return to the Chicago stage, Petersen will take a few weeks off this season to do �Dublin Carol� at Trinity Rep in Rhode Island. This will require him to miss two episodes of CSI.

CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler doesn�t want to think about what CSI will do in its eighth season or beyond if Petersen leaves or reduces his presence on the show. �CSI without Grissom? I can�t even imagine that,� says Tassler.

�There may be stuff I do [on CSI] next year. I just know I want to do a play in Chicago next year,� says Petersen. �Because at some point, that�s what I am. This is not what I am.�

To read much more about what the future holds for Petersen, visit The Chicago Tribune.

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