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NEW YORK -- Anne Heche is in negotiations to replace Jennifer Jason Leigh in David Auburn's Pulitzer Prize-winning "Proof," currently running at the Walter Kerr Theater in New York.

Leigh's last performance is skedded for June 30.

Mary-Louise Parker originated the play's lead role of Catherine at the Manhattan Theater Club in spring 2000. The following year, she won the best actress Tony Award for her portrayal of the bereaved, troubled daughter of a math genius.

Gwyneth Paltrow recently opened in the play's U.K. preem at the Donmar Warehouse, where she performs through June 15.

Leigh took over from Parker during the fateful week of Sept. 11, when the show grossed just under $100,000. The box office, however, quickly recovered and the production scored some of its highest grossing sessions with Leigh as headliner.

Heche would be a decidedly high-profile, it not controversial, choice for the stage drama. Last fall, thesp published her autobiography, "Call Me Crazy," in which she wrote about her affair with Ellen DeGeneres, LSD therapy and an alter ego.