Danny DeVito Will Return to Broadway in Theresa Rebeck's I NEED THAT; Roundabout Announces 2023-2024 Season

Roundabout Theatre Company has just announced the Broadway and Off-Broadway line-up for the 2023-2024 season, including initial casting. One additional Broadway production will be announced at a later date.

"Getting all the pieces into place and announcing a new season is one of the most rewarding moments every year for everyone at Roundabout. All our departments collaborate to bring remarkable voices, old and new, to our city. This season will be an incredible adventure for audiences in our theatres on and Off Broadway, including four world premieres-one of which was first seen as part of the Roundabout Underground Reading Series-and the revival of Samm-Art Williams's Home, which was featured in Roundabout's first Refocus Project line-up in 2021," notes Todd Haimes, Artistic Director/CEO. "I am also thrilled to partner for the first time with New York Theatre Workshop and its new artistic director, Patricia McGregor, for the world premiere of Nathan Alan Davis's The Refuge Plays."

I NEED THAT by Theresa Rebeck

October 2023 | American Airlines Theatre on Broadway
Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel
World Premiere

Danny DeVito returns to Roundabout Theatre Company in I Need That, starring alongside his daughter, Lucy DeVito, and Ray Anthony Thomas in a deeply human new comedy from Theresa Rebeck (Bernhardt/Hamlet).

Sam (Danny DeVito) doesn't get out much. Actually, he doesn't get out at all, opting instead for the safety of his house in the company of his things-his many, many things. But when a notice from the government arrives alerting Sam that he must clean up his property or face eviction, he's forced to reckon with what's trash, what's treasure, and whether we can ever know the difference between the two.

HOME by Samm-Art Williams

Spring 2024 | American Airlines Theatre on Broadway
Directed by Kenny Leon

In this Tony Award®-nominated play, Cephus Miles has the whole world in his callused hands-until his sweetheart Pattie Mae goes off to college and marries another man. Originally staged by the Negro Ensemble Company in 1979 and featured in the first year of Roundabout's Refocus Project, Samm-Art Williams' Home is a muscular and melodic coming-of-age story that gives voice to the unbreakable spirit of all Americans who have been searching for a place to belong. Kenny Leon (A Soldier's Play) directs.

THE REFUGE PLAYS by Nathan Alan Davis

September 2023 | Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre
Directed by Patricia McGregor
World Premiere / In association with New York Theatre Workshop

Late at night, deep in the woods of southern Illinois, a ghost tells Gail she will die within the next 24 hours. So begins The Refuge Plays, an intergenerational saga that follows a single Black family over 70 years. Written by Nathan Alan Davis, this world-premiere production boldly reimagines what an American "family play" can be. Patricia McGregor directs.

COVENANT by York Walker

October 2023 | Black Box Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre Directed by Tiffany Nichole Greene
Roundabout Underground World Premiere

When a struggling guitarist returns to his small Georgia town a blues star, rumors begin swirling that he may have made a deal with the devil to attain his musical genius. Before long, however, it becomes clear he's not the only one with a secret. A mythic and suspenseful new play that delivers one devilish twist after another, York Walker's Covenant explores the power of belief and the thin line between rumor and truth. Covenant was first seen as part of Roundabout's Underground Reading Series in 2022. Tiffany Nichole Greene directs.

JONAH by Rachel Bonds

Spring 2024 | Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre
Directed by Danya Taymor
World Premiere

What's your fantasy? Ana knows that everybody has one-her especially, and she'd do anything to make it come true. And when she meets Jonah, a sweet and caring student at her boarding school, everything she's ever wanted is finally falling into place. Except Jonah, like everything else in this moving world- premiere play from Rachel Bonds, is not all that he seems. A singularly haunting and heart-racing coming-of-age tale that will keep you guessing until its final twisting moments, Jonah is about the true cost of survival, and the lengths some will travel to feel just a little less alone in the world. Danya Taymor directs.

Further information including dates, casting, creative team, and single ticket on-sale dates for all the productions will also be announced soon.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets for Roundabout's 2023-2024 Season are currently available as part of the Roundabout subscription series by calling 212.719.1300, online at roundabouttheatre.org/subscribe or in person at a Roundabout box office. Individual tickets will go on sale at a later date.

BIOGRAPHIES

Danny DeVito (Sam, I Need That) is one of the entertainment industry's most versatile players, excelling as actor, producer and director. The award-winning performance as Louie De Palma on the television show "Taxi" was what propelled DeVito to national prominence. He won both an Emmy and a Golden Globe. In a 1999 readers' poll conducted by TV Guide, DeVito's Louie De Palma was voted number one among "TV's Fifty Greatest Character's Ever." On television, he can currently be seen in Mel Brooks' "History of the World: Part II." He was last seen returning as "Frank Reynolds" in the 15th season of FXX's acclaimed cult comedy "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"; renewed in 2020 for seasons 15-18, it has become the longest-running scripted comedy in television history. DeVito recently completed filming season 16. He was also recently seen in a guest role in the first season of Netflix' "The Kominsky Method." He will next be seen in Poolman, Chris Pines' directorial debut, and in Disney's highly anticipated new Haunted Mansion film. Upcoming films in development include Triplets and Sniff. He was last seen in the Harry Haft biopic The Survivor, directed by Barry Levinson, on which he has also served as executive producer. 2019 saw DeVito in the highly successful sequel Jumanji: The Next Level and reunited with Tim Burton for Disney's Dumbo. In 2012, DeVito and Richard Griffiths received rave reviews in the London stage revival of Neil Simon's comedy The Sunshine Boys. The following year, DeVito reprised his critically acclaimed role together with former "Taxi" co-star Judd Hirsch in Los Angeles. DeVito made his Broadway debut in 2017 in Arthur Miller's The Price in the role of Gregory Solomon at Roundabout, earning him his first Tony Award nomination. He won a Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and Broadway.com Audience Choice Award for the role. Throughout his career, DeVito has directed more than 25 projects, including Matilda, Death To Smoochy, The War of the Roses, Hoffa, Throw Momma From the Train, The Ratings Game, and numerous short films, TV movies and episodes of television, including "Taxi." DeVito has starred in such films as The War of the Roses, Junior, Batman Returns, Twins, Romancing the Stone, Jewel of the Nile, Ruthless People, Throw Momma From the Train, Tin Men, Anything Else, Big Fish, Renaissance Man, The Big Kahuna, Heist, The Good Night, Deck The Halls, Relative Strangers, The OH in Ohio, Be Cool and Even Money.

Ray Anthony Thomas (Foster, I Need That). Recent credits: Broadway- American Buffalo, Trouble In Mind, Jitney, The Crucible, Race. Off-Broadway-The Trees; Moscow, Moscow, Moscow, Moscow, Moscow, Moscow; Volunteer Man (Obie Award). Television-"Law & Order," "Flatbush Misdemeanors," "New Amsterdam," "Social Distance," "High Maintenance." Film: The Untitled Novelist Project, The Rest Of Us, Isn't It Romantic, Harbinger, Shutter Island, Trouble With The Curve.

Theresa Rebeck (Playwright, I Need That) is a prolific and widely produced playwright, whose work has been staged across the globe. Her work on Broadway includes Bernhardt/Hamlet, Dead Accounts, Seminar and Mauritius. Other notable New York and regional plays include Seared (MCC), Downstairs (Primary Stages), The Scene, The Water's Edge, Loose Knit, The Family of Mann and Spike Heels (Second Stage), Bad Dates, The Butterfly Collection and Our House (Playwrights Horizons), The Understudy (Roundabout), View of the Dome (NYTW), What We're Up Against (Women's Project), Omnium Gatherum (Pulitzer Prize finalist). Her latest play, Mad House, played a critically acclaimed world premiere on London's West End starring David Harbour and Bill Pullman. As a director, her work has been seen at The Alley Theatre (Houston), the REP Company (Delaware), Dorset Theatre Festival, the Orchard Project and the Folger Theatre. Major film and television projects include Trouble, with Anjelica Huston, Bill Pullman and David Morse (writer and director), "NYPD Blue," the NBC series "Smash" (creator), the female spy thriller 355 (for Jessica Chastain's production company), and her most recent film Glimpse, available for streaming now. As a novelist, Rebeck's books include Three Girls and Their Brother and I'm Glad About You. Rebeck is the recipient of the William Inge New Voices Playwriting Award, the PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Award, and a Lilly Award.

Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Director, I Need That). Broadway: Theresa Rebeck's Bernhardt/Hamlet starring Janet McTeer (two Tony nominations); Noël Coward's Present Laughter starring Kevin Kline (three Tony nominations including Best Revival of a Play); Robert Askins' Hand to God (five Tony nominations including Best New Play and Best Director). London's West End: Theresa Rebeck's Mad House starring David Harbour and Bill Pullman; Hand to God (Olivier nomination). Off-Broadway: Theresa Rebeck's Seared (MCC); Larissa FastHorse's The Thanksgiving Play (Playwrights Horizons); Mike Lew's Teenage Dick (Ma-Yi/Public Theater); Nick Jones' Important Hats of the Twentieth Century (Manhattan Theatre Club); Nick Jones' Verité (Lincoln Center Theatre/LCT3); Mike Lew's Bike America (Ma-Yi); Nick Jones' Trevor (Lesser America); Robert Askins' Love Song of the Albanian Sous Chef (Ensemble Studio Theatre); Mel & El (Ars Nova); Michael Mitnick's Spacebar (Studio 42); and Adam Szymkowicz's My Base and Scurvy Heart (Studio 42). Regional: Alliance, Williamstown, Huntington, Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Rep, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Woolly Mammoth, Pasadena Playhouse, and more. Also Upcoming: Mike Lew's Tiny Father (Barrington Stage & Chautauqua Theater). Moritz is the former artistic director of Studio 42, NYC's producer of "unproducible" plays. moritzvs.com

Samm-Art Williams (Playwright, Home) is a playwright, screenwriter, actor, and producer. As a playwright, Williams has written Home, Welcome To Black River, Friends, and other plays produced in New York, Los Angeles, and other cities. Home received a Tony nomination as Best Broadway Play, the Outer Critics Circle Award, a Drama Desk nomination, the NAACP Image Award, and the North Carolina Governor's Award. For the screen, Samm-Art Williams has written "Solomon Northup's Odyssey" (PBS), "John Henry" (Showtime), "Badges" (CBS), and episodes for "Cagney and Lacey," "The New Mike Hammer," "Miami Vice," and other programs. He has been nominated for two Emmy Awards. As an actor, he performed in "Blood Simple," "Huckleberry Finn," and other feature films. His television acting credits include "Women of Brewster Place," "Race to the Pole," "Search for Tomorrow," and other productions. In addition to his writing and acting credits, he served as Executive Producer of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," "Martin," "Good News," and other television productions. He has received the Guggenheim Fellowship, The National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Playwriting, and other awards for his writing.

Kenny Leon (Director, Home) is a Tony Award-winning director who also has been honored with The Actors Fund Medal of Honor, an Obie Award and an NAACP Image Award. Mr. Leon is also a proud honoree of the George Abbott Lifetime Achievement for American Theatre. Mr. Leon is on the producing team of Some Like It Hot, the musical directed by Casey Nicholaw. Broadway: A Soldier's Play; American Son; Children of a Lesser God; Holler If Ya Hear Me; A Raisin in the Sun; The Mountaintop; Stick Fly; August Wilson's Fences, Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf. Off-Broadway: The Underlying Chris, Everybody's Ruby, Emergence-See! (The Public); Smart People (Second Stage). Television: Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia; Colin in Black & White; 4400; Amend: The Fight for America; American Son (adapted for Netflix); Hairspray Live!; The Wiz Live!; Steel Magnolias; Dynasty; In My Dreams. Author: Take You Wherever You Go. Artistic Director Emeritus, Kenny Leon's True Colors Theatre Company. Senior Resident Director: Roundabout Theatre Company. Leon most recently directed this fall's critically acclaimed productions of Ohio State Murders by Adrienne Kennedy and Suzan-Lori Parks' Topdog/Underdog.

Nathan Alan Davis (Playwright, The Refuge Plays). Plays include Nat Turner in Jerusalem (NYTW), The High Ground (Arena Stage), Eternal Life Part 1 (Wilma Theater), Origin Story (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park), The Wind and the Breeze (Cygnet Theatre), and Dontrell Who Kissed the Sea (NNPN Rolling World Premiere). In recognition of his body of work, Nathan has received a Windham-Campbell Prize (2021), a Steinberg Playwright Award (2020), and a Whiting Award in Drama (2018). Other awards and honors include: Playwrights' Center Venturous Fellowship, Stavis Playwright Award, Sundance Theatre Lab Fellowship, Steinberg/ATCA New Play Citation, Rita Goldberg Fellowship, and NYTW 2050 Fellowship. Nathan is an alumnus of the University of Illinois, Indiana University, and the Juilliard School. He currently serves as Director of MFA Playwriting at Boston University.

Patricia McGregor (Director, The Refuge Plays). Born in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, Patricia McGregor is the Artistic Director of New York Theatre Workshop, as well as a director and writer working in theatre, film, dance and music. McGregor has twice been profiled by The New York Times for her direction of world premieres. She was inaugural Artist in Residence for Adam Driver's Arts in the Armed Forces and an Old Globe Resident Artist. Her productions include Lights Out: Nat "King" Cole (co-writer and director; Geffen Playhouse, People's Light); Sisters in Law (Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts); Shakespeare: Call and Response, Krapp's Last Tape, What You Are, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Measure for Measure (The Old Globe); Skeleton Crew (Geffen Playhouse); Good Grief (Center Theatre Group); Hamlet (The Public Theater); Place (Brooklyn Academy of Music); The Parchman Hour (Guthrie Theater); Ugly Lies the Bone (Roundabout Theatre Company); brownsville song (Lincoln Center Theater); Indomitable: James Brown (Apollo Theater); Holding It Down (The Metropolitan Museum of Art); A Raisin in the Sun, The Winter's Tale and Spunk (California Shakespeare Theater); Adoration of the Old Woman (INTAR Theatre); Blood Dazzler (Harlem Stage); Four Electric Ghosts (The Kitchen); and the world premiere of Hurt Village (Signature Theatre Company).

York Walker (Playwright, Covenant) is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter from Chicago, Illinois. He is the inaugural recipient of the Vineyard Theatre's Colman Domingo Award. He is also a member of Marcus Gardley's New Wave Writer's Workshop. His work includes Holcomb & Hart (Victory Garden's New Plays For A New Year Festival), The Séance (Winner of the John Singleton Short Film Competition, 48 Hours... in Harlem), Covenant (Colman Domingo Award, Fire This Time Festival, Access Theatre's 4 Flights Up Festival, Arizona Theatre Company's Digital Play Series), White Shoes (Fire This Time Festival), Summer Of '63 (American Conservatory Theatre's New Play Series, Actors Company Theatre's New TACTics Festival), and Soul Records (Manhattan Theatre Club's Groundworks Lab). York received his MFA in Acting from The American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco and is currently developing work with Roundabout Theatre Company and South Coast Repertory Theatre.

Tiffany Nichole Greene (Director, Covenant) was the original resident director of Hamilton: An American Musical (Philip Tour). Recent directing credits include the off-Broadway premiere of Steph Del Rosso's 53% OF at Second Stage Theater; Christina Ham's Nina Simone: Four Women at Arizona Theatre Company; the world premiere of Vichet Chum's High School Play: A Nostalgia Fest at The Alley Theatre; the world premiere of Invincible at The Wallis, featuring the music of Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo; the world premiere of Deneen Reynolds-Knott's Shoebox Picnic: Route One at Alabama Shakespeare Theatre; Adrienne Kennedy's Ohio State Murders for The Goodman Theatre's Live series; and Something Grim(M) for Dallas Theatre Center, a devised outdoor theatrical experience that she also wrote. During the pandemic, Tiffany directed the world premieres of Lydia Diamond's Whiterly Negotiations and Lynn Nottage's What Are The Things I Need To Remember? for Theatre For One: Here We Are, produced by Octopus Theatricals (NYT Critic's Pick); Stacey Rose's As Is: In Conversations With Big Black Women In Confined Spaces for Manhattan Theatre Club (Digital Production); Alice Childress' Wine In The Wilderness for Portland Center Stage (Digital Production); and Battle Cry by Bianca Sams for Cleveland Play House Theatre (Digital Production). Additional directing credits include work for The Guthrie Theater, Dallas Theater Center, Trinity Repertory Company, The JACK in Brooklyn, and many more. She is a Lincoln Center Directors Lab Alum, a Soho Rep Directors Lab Alum, a Two-time Drama League Director Finalist, and a proud member of SDC. She holds an MFA from Brown University/Trinity Rep. Upcoming: Jonathan Larson's RENT at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. tiffanynicholegreene.com

Rachel Bonds (Playwright, Jonah) is a playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and writer for scripted podcasts. Her plays have been developed or produced by Ars Nova, Manhattan Theatre Club, Roundabout Theatre Company, Atlantic Theater Company, McCarter Theatre Center, Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Repertory, La Jolla Playhouse, Studio Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, and Williamstown Theatre Festival, among others. She is the recipient of the Weissberger Award, the Sky Cooper Prize, and the Heideman Award, as well as a Tow Foundation Fellowship. Her plays have been twice-named a New York Times Critic's Pick. She recently finished writing The Boars' Nest scripted series about Sue Brewer and the beginnings of the Outlaw Country movement with Dub Cornett and Holly Gleason for Fresh Produce/Audible, is currently developing an original scripted series The Heart of It All, also for Audible, developing her play Jonah with director Danya Taymor, and co-raising a family amidst a global pandemic. Her original musical The Lonely Few, with music and lyrics by Zoe Sarnak, will premiere at The Geffen in 2023. Originally from the mountains of Tennessee, Bonds is based in Brooklyn.

Danya Taymor (Director, Jonah) is an Obie-award winning New York based director, writer and translator. Recent direction includes the World Premiere musical adaptation of S.E. Hinton's seminal novel The Outsiders (La Jolla Playhouse) Broadway: Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu's Pass Over at the August Wilson Theater. Off Broadway/International/Regional: Will Arbery's Heroes Of The Fourth Turning (Playwrights Horizons, Callaway Award for Direction, Pulitzer Prize Finalist, Lortel Outstanding Play) and Evanston Salt Costs Climbing (New Group), Samuel Beckett's ENDGAME (Gate, Dublin), Jeremy O. Harris' Daddy (Almeida, London + New Group/Vineyard), Korde Arrington Tuttle's Graveyard Shift (Goodman Theater), Pass Over (Lincoln Center + Steppenwolf, Lortel Outstanding Play), Danai Gurira's Familiar (Steppenwolf), Martyna Majok's Queens (Lincoln Center Theater), Justin Kuritzkes' The Sensuality Party (The New Group), Susan Soon-He Stanton's Cygnus (Women's Project), Brian Watkins' Wyoming (Lesser America) and My Daughter Keeps Our Hammer (The Flea), and Sarah Gancher's The Place We Built (The Flea). Translations include Alejandro Ricaño's We Are Getting Better at Saying Goodbye, Luis Enrique Guitierrez Ortiz Monasterio's I Hate f-ing Mexicans, and Ettore Scola's Working on a Special Day. Her production Antoinette Nwandu's Pass Over was filmed in collaboration with Spike Lee and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Now streaming on Amazon Prime. Awards and fellowships include the Cullman Award for Extraordinary Creativity from Lincoln Center, Time Warner Directing Fellowship at Women's Project, 2050 fellowship at New York Theatre Workshop, Van Lier Directing Fellowship; Gates Foundation Grant, Rough Draft Residency at the Drama League and the Lincoln Center Directors Lab. She has taught theater in Ecuador and Slovakia. BA: Duke University