Academy Award Winner Robert Downey Jr. to Make Broadway Debut in New Play by Ayad Akhtar

Academy Award winner Robert Downey Jr. will make his Broadway debut in McNeal, a new play by Tony nominee and Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar (Junk, Disgraced), directed by Tony winner Bartlett Sher. The production will begin performances at the Vivian Beaumont Theater on September 5, with an official opening set for September 30. The limited engagement will run through November 24.

Downey recently won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer. In a decades-spanning career, he has amassed more than 110 acting credits including Tony Stark/Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sherlock Holmes in the Sherlock Holmes films and Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin as well as roles in Less Than Zero, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Tropic Thunder. He made his stage debut aged 17 in Alms for the Middle Class at Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, and had a number of off-Broadway roles before his Hollywood career took off.

Good writers borrow, great writers steal. Jacob McNeal (Downey) 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. McNeal 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 and Jake Barton, costumes by Jennifer Moeller, lighting by Donald Holder, sound by Justin Ellington and 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 Downey’s production company Team Downey. Complete casting will be announced at a later date.