This fall, Lincoln Center Theater has announced that it will produce McNEAL, a new play by Ayad Akhtar, directed by Bartlett Sher. The production will star Academy Award-winner Robert Downey Jr. as Jacob McNeal, in his Broadway debut.
Good writers borrow, great writers steal. Jacob McNeal (Robert Downey Jr.) is a great writer, one of our greatest, a perpetual candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. But McNeal also has an estranged son, a new novel, old axes to grind and an unhealthy fascination with Artificial Intelligence. Pulitzer Prize-winner Ayad Akhtar’s new play is a startling and wickedly smart examination of the inescapable humanity – and increasing inhumanity – of the stories we tell.
McNEAL will have sets by Michael Yeargan & Jake Barton, costumes by Jennifer Moeller, lighting by Donald Holder, sound by Justin Ellington & Beth Lake, and projections by Jake Barton. Jennifer Rae Moore will be the stage manager. McNEAL is produced by Lincoln Center Theater in association with Team Downey. Complete casting will be announced at a later date.
The first Broadway production of LCT’s 40th Anniversary season, McNEAL will begin previews Thursday, September 5, and open on Monday, September 30. McNEAL will play a strictly limited engagement through Sunday, November 24 only at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.
Tickets to McNEAL will be available on Telecharge.com and at the LCT Box Office beginning Tuesday, May 21 at 12noon ET.
