Big Love's Douglas Smith & More Will Lead Cast of Simon Stephens' Punk Rock Off-Broadway

Screen star Douglas Smith is among the performers to join the cast of the previously announced New York premiere of Simon Stephens’ Punk Rock. The MCC Theater production will begin performances at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on October 29 and run through December 7. Opening night is set for November 17. Additional cast members of the Trip Cullman-helmed production include Pico Alexander, Lilly Englert, Annie Funke, David Greenspan, Colby Minifie, Will Pullen and Noah Robbins.

Inspired by Stephens’ own experiences as a teacher, Punk Rock explores contemporary adolescence at the breaking point as a group of seventeen-year-olds in Manchester, England flirt and posture their way through the day while preparing for exams. With hormones raging and minimal adult supervision, nothing can mask the underlying tension that becomes increasingly pronounced as the clock ticks towards the ultimate dismissal.

Smith, who stars as Ben Henrickson on the HBO series Big Love has appeared on screen in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters and Stage Fright. Alexander’s stage credits include Our Town and Much Ado About Nothing. Englert has appeared on stage in King Lear and Midsummer Night’s Dream. Funke appeared on Broadway in Hairspray and off-Broadway in If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet. Greenspan returns to MCC after presenting the musical Coraline alongside collaborator Stephin Merritt. Minifie appeared on Broadway in The Pillowman; her off-Broadway credits include Close Up Space, Landscape of the Body and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs. Pullen can currently be seen in The Wayside Motor Inn off-Broadway. Robbins made his Broadway debut in Brighton Beach Memoirs and also appeared in Arcadia.