Actor Molly Parker is to direct her first movie, The Ballad of Maura MacKenzie, for Markham Street Films and Rock Island Productions.

Parker (Trigger) will shoot her debut feature in Newfoundland and Toronto in late summer 2011.

The drama is based on the novel An Audience of Chairs by Joan Clark, which chronicles the life of a woman dealing with mental illness in her ancestral Cape Breton home.

The script was written by Rock Island’s Rosemary House.

Markham Street co-presidents Judy Holm and Michael McNamara said in a statement: “We have watched Molly’s work over the years and believe that her intelligence and artistic integrity are perfect to bring this incredibly touching story alive.”