“DOWNSTATE”
BY TONY AWARD® AND PULITZER PRIZE WINNER
BRUCE NORRIS
TO PREMIERE ON BROADWAY THIS FALL
DIRECTED BY THREE-TIME TONY AWARD WINNER
JOE MANTELLO
New York, NY (September 8, 2026) – Producers Scott Rudin and Barry Diller today announced that Pulitzer Prize and Tony® Award winner Bruce Norris’s acclaimed play, Downstate, will have its much-anticipated Broadway premiere this fall. Directed by three-time Tony® Award winner Joe Mantello, Downstate will begin previews Saturday, October 17, at the Booth Theatre (222 W. 45th St.) for a limited 12-week engagement. Opening night is set for Sunday, November 15.
From its sensation-causing 2018 world premiere at Steppenwolf Theatre Company to its acclaimed UK premiere at the National Theatre in 2019 and its decorated New York premiere at Playwrights Horizons in 2022, Downstate has provoked fierce debate, outraged countless commentators, and held audiences in an ever-tightening comic and moral vise. Now, after a protracted eight-year journey, one of the most fearless American plays of the modern era finally arrives on Broadway.
The Broadway cast of Downstate will feature Cassie Beck, two-time Tony Award nominee K. Todd Freeman, Evening Standard Award nominee Francis Guinan, Adrian Martinez, Al’Jaleel McGhee, Tony Award nominee Thomas Sadoski, Ivy Wolk, and Emmy Award winner Liza Colón-Zayas.
In downstate Illinois, four men convicted of sex crimes against minors live together in a group home, their every movement governed by restrictions that continue to close in around them. The house’s fragile order begins to fracture as an accuser arrives to confront his abuser, bringing with him a storm of unspoken memories. Shockingly funny, savage and furiously political, Bruce Norris’s play pulls audiences into a world where punishment is unending, compassion itself can feel like a transgression, and forgiveness is always out of reach.
Mantello returns to Broadway with Downstate following his historic production of Arthur Miller’s Death of Salesman, which made Broadway history as the most awarded revival of a play ever and the most Tony Award-winning show of the year, with six Tony wins including Best Revival of a Play and Best Direction of a Play.
The creative team for Downstate will include three-time Tony Award-winning scenic designer Scott Pask, Tony and two-time Academy Award-winning costume designer Ann Roth, Drama Desk Award-winning lighting designer Heather Gilbert, and Tony Award-winning sound designer Mikaal Sulaiman.
PRAISE FOR DOWNSTATE:
“How can you miss the play that will thoroughly piss off half of America?” -Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post
“Downstate is proof that you can love a play that turns you inside out.” - Peter Marks, The Washington Post
“One of the more incendiary and thus important plays in history. You will have to see it for yourself.” - Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
“If you are not made uncomfortable by Downstate, you must have a nervous system made of tempered steel.” - Charles Isherwood, The Wall Street Journal
“What Norris is doing is like tap dancing in a minefield—fiendishly difficult and potentially explosive.” - Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic
“A great, squirmy moral-thrill-ride of a play. Downstate is winding a lot of nooses.” - Jesse Green, The New York Times (Critic’s Pick)
“★★★★★ Brace yourself.” - Adam Feldman, Time Out New York
“Careful! The water’s boiling.” - Jackson McHenry, New York Magazine
BIOGRAPHIES
Cassie Beck is reuniting with director Joe Mantello after collaborating with him on The Humans, for which the cast received the Drama Desk Award for Best Ensemble. Also on Broadway: The Rose Tattoo, Picnic and The Norman Conquests. Beck performed the role of “Heidi” in the 13-city Broadway tour of What the Constitution Means to Me. She’s originated numerous roles off-Broadway and regionally. Selected TV/film credits include I Know What You Did Last Summer, “High Maintenance,” “Pose,” and “Chicago Med.” Beck adapted, executive produced and starred in the short film Admonitions, which premiered at the Greenpoint Film Festival.
K. Todd Freeman. Broadway: Death of a Salesman, The Minutes, Airline Highway (Tony Nomination, Drama Desk Award), Wicked, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Song of Jacob Zulu (Tony Nomination). Off-Broadway: Prince Faggot (Playwrights Horizons – Obie Award), Downstate (Playwrights Horizons – Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, Obie Awards), Fetch Clay Make Man (NYTW – Obie Award); The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures, Spunk (Public Theatre). Television: “Will Trent,” “Horrors of Dolores Roach,” “The Rehearsal,” “High Maintenance,” “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” “Blindspot,” “Law and Order: SVU,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “NYPD Blue.” Film: No One Cares, The Same Storm, Anesthesia, The Dark Knight, Cider House Rules, Gross Pointe Blank. Member of Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
Francis Guinan has been a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble since 1979. He has appeared in numerous Steppenwolf productions including American Buffalo, The Night Alive, The Seafarer, Noises Off and Love Song. Other regional credits include The Seagull and The Cherry Orchard at the Goodman Theatre, The White Guy on the Bus and Stella and Lou at Northlight Theatre in Chicago. Stella and Lou also traveled to the Galway Arts Festival. Off-Broadway credits include Balm in Gilead, And a Nightingale Sang and As Is. On Broadway he has appeared in August: Osage County and The Grapes of Wrath. Film credits: The Last Airbender, Relative, Abundant Acreage Available, Constantine. TV credits: “Law and Order,” “Eerie Indiana,” “Chicago Med,” “Mike and Molly.” Thanks always to the Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
Adrian Martinez. Film: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Focus, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, American Hustle, Renfield, iGilbert, Stumptown, The Interpreter, Casa de los Babys, It’s Kind of a Funny Story, and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. Television: “Only Murders in the Building,” “The Blacklist,” “Stumptown,” “No Activity,” “Gotham,” “Inside Amy Schumer,” “Louie,” “30 Rock,” “Law & Order,” and “Sex and the City.” He starred opposite Will Smith and Margot Robbie in Focus and opposite Ben Stiller in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Martinez wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the feature film iGilbert, which earned multiple festival awards.
Al’Jaleel McGhee. Chicago actor. Selected theatre credits include: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Revolution(s) (Goodman Theatre); A Soldier’s Play (National Broadway Tour); Toni Stone (Huntington Theatre); Henry Johnson (Victory Gardens) Paradise Blue (Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe); Noises Off (Steppenwolf/Geffen Playhouse); Intimate Apparel, Fireflies (Northlight); Paradise Blue, To Catch a Fish (TimeLine); Blues for an Alabama Sky (Court). Selected Film/TV credits include: “Duster” (HBO); Lady in the Lake, “Shining Girls” (Apple); 61st Street (AMC). Northwestern University MFA Acting Inaugural Cohort.
Thomas Sadoski. Broadway credits include: reasons to be pretty (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League nominations); Other Desert Cities; The House of Blue Leaves; Reckless. Off-Broadway and international credits include: Are You Now or Have You Ever Been; Wedding Band; White Noise; The Way We Get By; As You Like It; The Tempest; Other Desert Cities (Obie Award), Becky Shaw (Lucille Lortel Award); This is Our Youth; Stay; Where We’re Born; Jump/Cut. Film credits include: Adult Children; Group: The Schopenhauer Effect; Devotion; Lilly; Wild; The Mimic; The Last Word; I Smile Back; John Wick and John Wick Chapter Two; Take Care; The New Twenty; Loser. Television credits include: “The Newsroom;” “American Sports Story: Gladiator;” “The Crowded Room;” “Tommy;” “Life in Pieces;” “The Slap;” “Law & Order: SVU;” “Ugly Betty,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent;” “Law & Order.” A graduate of Circle in the Square Theater School in New York City, Sadoski has an honorary doctorate from Niagara University for his decades of humanitarian work with War Child USA, INARA, Fortify Rights and others.
Ivy Wolk can currently be seen onscreen in Ryan Murphy’s new FX series “The Shards,” based on the Bret Easton Ellis novel, as well as in a recurring role in “Deli Boys” for Hulu. She played supporting roles in Jonah Hill’s “Outcome” for Apple and in “Roommates” for Netflix. Ivy can also be seen in Sean Baker's multiple Academy Award-winning film Anora, in Eugene Kotlyarenko's film The Code and in Andrew De Young's film Friendship, for A24. Wolk appeared in Mary Bronstein's If I Had Legs I’d Kick You and Nick Corirossi's Napa Boys, as well as Brian Jordan Alvarez’s “English Teacher” for FX and “Everything’s Gonna Be Okay” for Freeform.
Liza Colón-Zayas. Emmy Award winner Liza Colón-Zayas currently stars as Detective Jean DeWolff opposite Tom Holland in Sony’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day. She recently wrapped production on the indie drama Fleur alongside Halle Berry, directed by Ellie Foumbi, and is currently in production on the Hulu legal drama Conviction, with Elisabeth Moss. Colón-Zayas is most widely known for her portrayal of Tina Marrero in the critically acclaimed series “The Bear.” For her role, she received the Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, making history as the first Latina to be awarded an Emmy in this category. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice Award, and received a SAG Award and two Imagen Awards. In 2024, Colón-Zayas starred in and produced Allswell in New York, a dramedy released by Freestyle Digital Media. The film premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Festival where it won the award for Best Screenplay in an American Narrative Feature. She also starred in John Krasinski’s live action animated comedy If. Her additional television credits include “In Treatment” and “Law & Order: SVU.” Colón-Zayas is a proud member of the acclaimed LAByrinth Theater Company, and is a Drama Desk, OBIE, Lucille Lortel, Audelco, Outer Critics Circle, HOLA and Kingsley Award winner for her stage work.
Bruce Norris (Playwright) is the author of the play Clybourne Park, which won the Olivier and Evening Standard Awards (London) for Best Play, 2010, as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, 2011, and the Tony Award for Best Play in 2012. Other plays include The Infidel, Purple Heart, We All Went Down to Amsterdam, The Pain and the Itch, The Unmentionables, A Parallelogram, and The Qualms (2014), all of which premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago, where he is an ensemble member. Other productions include The Low Road (Royal Court and Public Theatre), his adaptation of Brecht’s The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui (Donmar Warehouse) and Domesticated (Lincoln Center Theatre). In 2023 he received the Award of Merit for Drama from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in New York.
Joe Mantello (Director). As a director: Death of a Salesman (Tony Award), Little Bear Ridge Road; Here We Are; Grey House; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Hillary and Clinton; Three Tall Women; The Boys in the Band; Blackbird; The Humans; Airline Highway; The Last Ship; Casa Valentina; I'll Eat You Last; Other Desert Cities; Pal Joey; 9 to 5; Laugh Whore; Three Days of Rain; Glengarry Glen Ross; Wicked; Assassins (Tony Award); Take Me Out (Tony Award); Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; Love! Valour! Compassion! As an actor on Broadway: The Glass Menagerie, The Normal Heart (Tony nomination), Angels in America (Tony nomination). As an actor on television: “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans,” “American Horror Story: NYC,” “American Horror Story: Hollywood,” “The Watcher,” and “The Normal Heart” (Emmy Award nomination). He is the recipient of Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Clarence Derwent, Obie, Joe A. Callaway, and SDC’s “Mr. Abbott” Awards. He is a member of the Theatre Hall of Fame.
Scott Pask (Set Design) has won Tony Awards for The Book of Mormon, The Coast of Utopia, and The Pillowman. Selected Broadway: Schmigadoon! (Tony Nomination); Good Night and Good Luck with George Clooney (Tony Nomination); Glengarry Glen Ross; Little Bear Ridge Road; Blackbird; I’ll Eat You Last with Bette Midler, Take Me Out (original production), Gutenberg! The Musical!; Shucked (Tony Nomination); Some Like It Hot (Tony Nomination); American Buffalo (Tony Nomination); The Band’s Visit (Tony Nomination); Mean Girls (Tony Nomination); Waitress; Pippin (Tony Nomination); Pal Joey (Tony Nomination), HAIR; Urinetown. Recent London: Midnight at The Never Get, starring Ben Platt; The Producers. Netflix: John Mulaney - Kid Gorgeous
and “Baby J.”; Cirque du Soleil’s Amaluna.
Ann Roth (Costume Design) has designed more than 100 Broadway shows and 142 films. She received the Tony Award for her work on The Nance, and has been nominated for her work on The Royal Family, The Crucifer of Blood, The House of Blue Leaves, The Book of Mormon, Shuffle Along, Carousel, Three Tall Women, The Iceman Cometh, To Kill A Mockingbird, and Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus. Other theater credits include Fish in the Dark, A Delicate Balance, This Is Our Youth, A Raisin in the Sun, Betrayal, Hurlyburly, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Singin’ in the Rain, Purlie, Waiting for Godot, and The Odd Couple. Beyond her Academy Award-winning designs for The English Patient and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Roth’s film credits include Julie & Julia, The Reader, Doubt, Closer, The Village, Cold Mountain, The Hours, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Birdcage, The Mambo Kings, Working Girl, Silkwood, 9 to 5, Hair, Klute, and Midnight Cowboy. She is a three-time Emmy Award nominee for her television work, including “Angels in America” and “Mildred Pierce.” A recipient of the TDF Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000, she was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2011. Ms. Roth also made a memorable on-screen appearance in Greta Gerwig’s 2023 film Barbie, portraying “the woman on the bench.”
Heather Gilbert (Lighting Design). Broadway: The Fear of 13 (Tony nomination), Bug (Tony nomination), Little Bear Ridge Road, Good Night, and Good Luck (Tony nomination), Dead Outlaw, Parade (Tony, Drama Desk nomination), The Sound Inside (Drama Desk Award, Tony nomination), Cult of Love (Second Stage). Regional: Steppenwolf, Goodman, The Muny, Center Theatre Group, Studio Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Magic Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Pasadena Playhouse, Berkeley Repertory Theatre and many more. Heather teaches lighting design at the University of Michigan.
Mikaal Sulaiman (Sound Design) is a Tony Award-winning multidisciplinary artist working across film, television, theatre, and sound. He was a writer on A24 and Amazon Studios’ series from Ramy Youssef, “#1 Happy Family USA,” and is commissioned to develop an original play for Manhattan’s Perelman Performing Arts Center. Mikaal’s Broadway credits include Death of a Salesman (Broadway 2026, Tony Award), Art, Pirates! The Penzance Musical, Death of a Salesman (Broadway 2022), Macbeth, An Enemy of the People, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Fat Ham. He has received awards and nominations from Drama Desk, Obie Award, Henry Hewes Award, Lucille Lortel Award, among others. He previously led Yale’s MFA Sound Design program and hosts the podcast Black Enso.