Tony Winner Kenny Leon to Helm Broadway Revival of Mark Medoff's Children of a Lesser God

The Tony-winning 1980 play Children of a Lesser God is set to return to Broadway for the first time. The new production will be directed by Kenny Leon, who took home the Tony this year for directing A Raisin in the Sun. The Mark Medoff-penned show will open at a theater to be announced in the 2015-16 season.

No cast has been set for the revival, although producer Hal Luftig told The New York Times that he and Leon aim to cast a company comprised of various ethnicities. The producer also confirmed that he and Leon did intend to cast a deaf actress as Sarah, noting, “anything else would be insulting to the deaf community.”

Children of a Lesser God tells the story of James Leeds, a new teacher at a school for the deaf, and Sarah Norman, the school’s one-time star student who has stayed behind as its cleaning woman rather than venturing out into the hearing world. James immediately takes a keen interest in Sarah, and tries to persuade her to communicate orally by lip reading as they kindle a romance beyond word. The original Broadway production starred Phyllis Frelich and John Rubinstein, who both won Tonys for their performances. The screen adaptation received five Academy Award nominations and earned Marlee Matlin the 1987 Oscar for Best Actress.