Academy Award winner Jessica Chastain will appear in a brand-new play when she returns to Broadway next year in Lost Lear, written and directed by Dan Colley, according to reporting by BroadwayWorld.
The 16-week limited engagement begins performances on Monday, March 29, 2027, at the Booth Theatre, with an opening night set for Friday, April 23, 2027, as announced Wednesday by producers Seaview, MarketStall and Mass Productions with Pam Hurst-Della Pietra & Stephen Della Pietra.
Chastain returns to the stage following her Tony Award-nominated and Drama Desk-winning performance as Nora Helmer in A Doll’s House in 2023, having previously made her Broadway debut in The Heiress in 2012, as noted by New York Theatre Guide.
Chastain stars as Joy, a former actress experiencing dementia who is certain she is back in rehearsal for Shakespeare’s King Lear. Joining her on stage are Corey Stoll as her estranged son Conor and Michael Urie as Liam, a care home nurse who indulges her delusions by stepping into whatever supporting roles she needs him to play.
“As her grip on the present slips, Joy (Chastain), a former actress, is certain she’s back in rehearsal for King Lear,” according to the official logline provided to Variety. “At her care home, her nurse (Urie) takes his cues from her, stepping into whatever role she needs him to play.”
Stoll comes to the production following a Tony Award nomination for his performance in Appropriate and a long list of stage credits including Macbeth at CSC, Othello, Troilus and Cressida, and Julius Caesar for The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park, alongside a Drama Desk Award nomination for his work in Intimate Apparel.
Urie brings extensive stage credits to the production, ranging from recent performances in Oh, Mary!, Once Upon a Mattress, and Spamalot.
The production arrives in New York following an international journey that premiered at the Dublin Theatre Festival in 2022. Since its debut, the play has traveled to New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, alongside stagings in Poland, as reported by Variety.
For playwright and director Colley, the upcoming run marks his Broadway debut. The Irish theatermaker reflected on the milestone in a statement.
“I’m so thrilled to have the opportunity to share this piece with New York audiences and to discover new facets of the work through collaborating with this remarkable company of artists,” Colley said in a statement.
“I never imagined, when we first made Lost Lear, that it would one day be on Broadway—and I’ve imagined some pretty wild things,” Colley said.
The creative team backing the production brings together Scott Pask for production design, Heather Gilbert for lighting design, Cody Spencer for sound design, Hana S. Kim and Yana Biryukova for projection design, Daniel McAuley for original music, Juniper Street Productions as production manager, Taylor Williams as casting director, and Rachel Bauder as production stage manager, with 101 Productions, Ltd./Christopher Taggart serving as general managers.
Tickets for the 16-week engagement are currently on sale via Telecharge, with additional casting to be announced at a later date.
