World Premieres by Dear Evan Hansen & Next to Normal Creators Set for Second Stage; Initial Casting Announced

A pair of world premiere productions and the revival of a Pulitzer finalist have been announced as part of the 40th anniversary season at Second Stage Theater. Current Hello, Dolly! player Kate Baldwin is among the stars who will appear in the new lineup of shows, set to play off-Broadway's Tony Kiser Theater.

The first newly announced show is Days of Rage, a world premiere play by Tony winner Steven Levenson (Dear Evan Hansen), directed by Trip Cullman (Lobby Hero). Set in October 1969, Days of Rage follows three 20-something radicals who are busy planning an impending revolution from a quiet college town in Upstate New York. When two strangers appear, disrupting the group's delicate balance, new dangers and old wounds threaten to tear the collective apart. Previews will begin on October 2, 2018 with an opening date to be announced.

Next up at Second Stage will be Superhero, a world premiere musical with a book by Tony winner John Logan (Red) and an original score by Next to Normal Tony winner and current Tony nominee Tom Kitt (SpongeBob SquarePants). According to press materials, Superhero centers on "a fractured family, the mysterious stranger in apartment 4-B and the unexpected hero who just might save the day." Tony nominees Kate Baldwin and Bryce Pinkham will star alongside newcomer Kyle McArthur in the production directed by Tony nominee Jason Moore (Avenue Q). Previews are scheduled to begin on January 31, 2019 with an opening date to come.

A new production of Christopher Shinn's Pulitzer finalist Dying City will complete Second Stage's off-Broadway season. Dying City is set in a spare Manhattan apartment where a young widow receives an unexpected visit from the twin brother of her deceased husband. Obie winner Lila Neugebauer (The Wolves) will direct the new staging set to begin previews in July 2019, with exact start dates to come.

As previously announced, Second Stage's 2018-2019 season will also include a Broadway production of Young Jean Lee's Straight White Men, directed by Tony winner Anna D. Shapiro, beginning on June 29, 2018 at the Hayes Theater. A Broadway transfer of four-time Tony winner Harvey Fierstein's Torch Song, directed by Tony nominee Moisés Kaufman, will start at the Hayes on October 9, 2018. Currently appearing at the Hayes is the three-time Tony-nominated production of Kenneth Lonergan's Lobby Hero, directed by Trip Cullman.

Additional casting for Second Stage's off-Broadway productions, along with the announcement of a fourth show, will come at a later date.