Why Becky Shaw Still Bites: Inside the Broadway Cast’s Take on Love, Power and Chaos

Becky Shaw, Gina Gionfriddo’s play about a blind date that spirals spectacularly off the rails, began performances at the Hayes Theater on March 18. You, too, could go in blind and experience what HBO Max’s The Pitt star Patrick Ball—who is making his Broadway debut in the play as Andrew—calls "a brutally honest, dark comedy about love and power and class." Or, you could see what the cast and creative team had to say at a recent press event attended by Broadway.com and do some pre-date stalking.

Premiering off-Broadway in 2009 at Second Stage, Becky Shaw is getting a second staging, this time on Broadway. Director Trip Cullman was at that very production and was “blown away by it.” Almost 20 years later, Cullman is using that gap to his advantage, saying, “I always felt like it's such a rich, fascinatingly heartfelt and also caustic piece of writing. I'm fascinated to see how that plays in 2026 versus when it was originally done in 2009.”

Two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Gionfriddo knows that plays don’t receive the same treatment as novels, saying, “You can recommend [novels] and order them from Amazon. Plays, you do them and they go away.” Not in this case! “It's incredibly exciting to think that all this time later people are going to get to see it,” she says.

Not only will people have the opportunity to see the play, but they’ll also have the opportunity to be moved by it. “You love and hate everybody at different points in the play. It's just the type of play that sticks with you,” says Lauren Patten, who plays Suzanna. Weapons star Alden Ehrenreich, making his Broadway debut in the production as Max says, “I'm very lucky to get to be a part of it because it's a kind of play that is wickedly, savagely fun and f**ked up, and people are doing things that you're just not supposed to do or say.”

Another Broadway debut is Madeline Brewer in the titular role. Brewer offered up two questions she had whilst reading the script for the first time: “What is this woman doing?” and “How do I save her from herself?” Throughout the rehearsal process, Brewer has put in the work forming the character audiences will already know before watching the play, describing her as “a lover girl; and unfortunately a lover girl that cannot get out of her own way.”

Brewer, Ball, Ehrenreich and Patten are joined by Linda Emond as Susan, completing the cast of Becky Shaw. The limited run is scheduled through June 14, so don’t miss the opportunity to watch a blind date go wrong without actually having to experience it yourself!

Get tickets to Becky Shaw!