Robert Downey Jr. to Make Broadway Debut This Fall

Robert Downey Jr. is making his Broadway debut this fall in a new play by Ayad Akhtar.

The play, called McNeal, will see Downey portraying a talented writer who grapples with a new novel, a broken family life and “an unhealthy fascination with artificial intelligence.” Bartlett Sher, resident director at the Lincoln Center who also helmed To Kill a Mockingbird, among others, is directing.

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Downey’s production company, Team Downey, is producing, in association with Lincoln Center Theater.

The play will run at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater starting Sept. 5 and opening on Sept. 30. The play will be a strictly limited engagement running through Nov. 24. Complete casting will be announced at a later date.

The Iron Man star won his first Oscar this year for his role in Oppenheimer. His recent projects include the HBO and A24 adaptation of the novel The Sympathizer. He is also slated to appear in Paramount Pictures’ Vertigo.

Akhtar is a Pulitzer Prize winner for his play Disgraced, in addition to credits including Junk, at the Lincoln Center, and The Who & the What.

McNeal will feature sets by Michael Yeargan and Jake Barton, costumes by Jennifer Moeller, lighting by Donald Holder, sound by Justin Ellington & Beth Lake, and projections by Jake Barton.

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