Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright Bruce Norris’ “Downstate” is set to open on Broadway this fall, directed by three-time Tony winner Joe Mantello. Previews will begin on October 17 at the Booth Theatre for a limited 12-week engagement. Opening night is set for November 15.
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The Broadway cast of “Downstate” will feature Cassie Beck, K. Todd Freeman, Francis Guinan, Adrian Martinez, Al’Jaleel McGhee, 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.
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.
“Downstate” premiered in 2018 at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company, directed by Pam MacKinnon, and transferred to London’s West End the following year with the same cast. Its New York premiere came in 2022 at Playwrights Horizons, introducing new cast members and winning 2023 New York Drama Critics’ Circle and Outer Critics Circle awards. The play was most recently produced in 2025 at the Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C., directed by David Muse.
Beck reunites with Mantello after collaborating with him on “The Humans.” Her other Broadway credits include “The Rose Tattoo,” “Picnic” and “The Norman Conquests.” She performed the role of Heidi in the 13-city Broadway tour of “What the Constitution Means to Me.”
Freeman reprises his role as Dee from the Playwright Horizons production. His Broadway credits include “Death of a Salesman,” “The Minutes,” “Airline Highway,” “Wicked,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “The Song of Jacob Zulu.”
Guinan received a Drama Desk nomination for his performance as Fred in “Downstate.” On Broadway, he appeared in “The Grapes of Wrath” and “August: Osage County.” Martinez’s film credits include “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” “Focus,” “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” and “American Hustle.” McGhee makes his Broadway debut in “Downstate.” Sadoski’s Broadway credits include: “reasons to be pretty,” “Other Desert Cities,” “The House of Blue Leaves” and “Reckless.”
Wolk can currently be seen onscreen in Ryan Murphy’s new FX series “The Shards,” based on the Bret Easton Ellis novel. Emmy Award winner Colón-Zayas plays Detective Jean DeWolff in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and is best known for her portrayal of Tina Marrero in “The Bear.”
This article previously appeared on Broadway.com.
