New Bruce Norris play Downstate to run at National Theatre in 2019

A new play about sex offenders by Bruce Norris is set to run at the National Theatre next year.

Downstate is set in Illinois where four sex offenders share a home, when a man arrive to confront the person who abused him as a child for either closure, or revenge.

The play will be directed by Pam MacKinnon, and feature an ensemble cast that includes K Todd Freeman, Francis Guinan and Tim Hopper, with further cast members to be announced. The production will feature a British and American cast and creative team.

The show will premiere in the US at Steppenwolf in Chicago in September, and transfer to the National Theatre next spring.  

Bruce Norris is a Pulitzer Prize Award-winning playwright whose previous work includes Clybourne Park, The Low Road and Domesticated.

Pam MacKinnon worked with Norris on Clybourne Park, and her work also includes a Tony Award-winning production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, A Delicate Balance and the world premiere of Amélie. She was recently named the artistic director of American Conservatory Theatre.

Downstate will run at the National Theatre in 2019.

Photo by Philip Vile