Jessica Chastain to return to Broadway in ‘Lost Lear,’ also starring Corey Stoll and Michael Urie

Academy Award winner and Tony nominee Jessica Chastain will return to Broadway this spring in “Lost Lear,” the acclaimed play written and directed by Irish theatermaker Dan Colley. Performances will begin on March 29, 2027 at the Booth Theatre with an official opening night set for April 23. The production will run for a 16-week limited engagement.

Chastain will star as Joy, a woman with dementia who is living inside an old memory of rehearsing Shakespeare’s King Lear. Joining Chastain are Golden Globe and Tony nominee Corey Stoll as Conor, Joy’s estranged son, and two-time Emmy nominee Michael Urie as Liam, a staff member at Joy’s nursing home. Additional casting will be announced at a later date.

“I never imagined, when we first made ‘Lost Lear,’ that it would one day be on Broadway — and I’ve imagined some pretty wild things,” said Colley in a statement. “I’m so thrilled to have the opportunity to share this piece with New York audiences and to discover new facets of the work through collaborating with this remarkable company of artists.”

Chastain last appeared on Broadway as Nora Helmer in Jamie Lloyd’s 2023 revival of A Doll’s House, earning a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Play and winning the Broadway.com Audience Choice Award for Favorite Leading Actress in a Play. She made her Broadway debut in the 2012 revival of The Heiress. On screen, Chastain won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Tammy Faye Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye. She received additional Oscar nominations for Zero Dark Thirty and The Help. Her many film credits include Interstellar, The Martian, Molly’s Game, The Tree of Life, A Most Violent Year and It Chapter Two. She also earned an Emmy nomination for playing country music legend Tammy Wynette opposite Michael Shannon in George & Tammy.

Stoll received a 2024 Tony nomination for Appropriate. His additional Broadway credits include Henry IV, Old Acquaintance and A View From the Bridge. He received a Drama Desk nomination for his performance opposite Viola Davis in Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel. His various film and television credits include a Golden Globe-nominated performance in House of Cards, Billions, West Side Story, Girls and Scenes from a Marriage, which also starred Chastain.

Urie is a two-time Emmy nominee for Shrinking, who was most recently seen on Broadway in Oh, Mary! His additional Broadway credits include Once Upon a Mattress, Spamalot, Chicken & Biscuits, Grand Horizons, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Torch Song. His additional screen credits include Ugly Betty, Younger, Maestro and Single All the Way.

Written by Colley, “Lost Lear” premiered at the Dublin Theatre Festival in 2022 and has since toured internationally, including engagements in New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom. The production made its U.K. premiere at Edinburgh’s Traverse Theatre as part of the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it won a Scotsman Fringe First Award.

“Lost Lear” will feature production design by three-time Tony Award winner Scott Pask, lighting design by five-time Tony Award nominee Heather Gilbert, sound design by Tony Award winner Cody Spencer, projection design by Tony Award winner Hana S. Kim and Yana Biryukova and original music by Daniel McAuley.

As her grip on the present slips, Joy, a former actress, is certain she’s back in rehearsal for King Lear. At her care home, her nurse takes his cues from her, stepping into whatever role she needs him to play. When her estranged son Conor comes to visit, he’s ready to tell his mother what he’s spent years leaving unsaid. But if he wants her to hear him, he’ll have to step into the scene. A limited event. A memory that will be impossible to leave behind.

This article previously appeared on Broadway.com.