Stephen Kunken, Grace Gummer & More Join John Lithgow for Manhattan Theatre Club’s The Columnist

Tony nominee Stephen Kunken, Grace Gummer and Brian J. Smith will join previously announced stars John Lithgow, Boyd Gaines and Margaret Colin in Manhattan Theatre Club’s world premiere of David Auburn’s The Columnist. The play will begin previews at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on April 4 and open on April 25, directed by Daniel Sullivan.


The Columnist is set in mid-century America, when columnists are kings and Joseph Alsop (Lithgow) wears the crown. Joe is beloved, feared and courted in equal measure by the Washington political world at whose center he sits. As the 1960s dawn and America undergoes dizzying change, the intense political drama embroiling Joe becomes deeply personal as well. Kunken will play David Halberstam, the award-winning journalist; Gummer will play Abigail, the daughter of Susan Alsop (Colin) and stepdaughter of Joseph Alsop (Lithgow); and Smith will play Andrei, a young Russian man.


Kunken received a Tony nomination for Enron. His other Broadway credits include High, Frost/Nixon, Festen and Proof. Gummer recently appeared in the Broadway revival of Arcadia. Smith appeared in Manhattan Theatre Club’s production of Come Back Little Sheba.