Spacey's first professional stage appearance was as a spear carrier in a New York Shakespeare Festival performance of "Henry VI, Part 1" in 1981. The following year, he made his first Broadway appearance, as Oswald in a production of Henrik Ibsen's "Ghosts", starring Liv Ullmann. Then he portrayed Philinte in Molière's "The Misanthrope". In 1984, Spacey appeared in a production of David Rabe's "Hurlyburly", in which he rotated through each of the male parts (he would later play Mickey in the film version). Next came Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull" alongside David Strathairn and Colleen Dewhurst. In 1986, Spacey appeared in a production of "Sleuth" in a New Jersey dinner theatre.