James Graham’s PUNCH Will Open on Broadway This Fall

BroadwayWorld has just learned that Manhattan Theatre Club has added two shows to the company’s 2025-2026 season. MTC will present the Broadway premiere of the critically acclaimed new play Punch by Olivier Award winner James Graham (Ink at MTC, Dear England, Best of Enemies, This House), directed by Adam Penford (Associate Director for Broadway’s One Man, Two Guvnors) at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, and the world premiere of The Monsters, written and directed by Ngozi Anyanwu (Good Grief, The Homecoming Queen), which will open Off-Broadway at NY City Center.

“All of us at Manhattan Theatre Club are thrilled to welcome the brilliant James Graham back to the Friedman Theatre, where our production of his play Ink received great acclaim in 2019,” said Lynne Meadow. “James’ fantastic new play Punch will be helmed by Adam Penford, who will make his Broadway and American debut as Director with the show. At City Center, we’re delighted to partner with Two River Theater to produce the world premiere of Ngozi Anyanwu’s The Monsters. We’ve been fans of Ngozi’s work for some time and are excited to bring her to MTC.”

James Graham’s Punch, based on the true-life book Right from Wrong by Jacob Dunne, earned ecstatic five-star reviews when it premiered last year at Nottingham Playhouse and recently transferred to The Young Vic in London. A powerful account of a fatal act of random violence and a path toward understanding and forgiveness, Punch has been hailed as “James Graham’s most moving work yet,” by The Times. 

Adam Penford will return to Broadway to direct MTC’s production, having previously been the Associate Director on the Tony Award-winning One Man, Two Guvnors. Punch is presented in association with Nottingham Playhouse, where Penford serves as Artistic Director. James Graham returns to MTC where his play, Ink, received six Tony Award nominations in 2019, including Best Play. Punch will open MTC’s Broadway season at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.

Ngozi Anyanwu’s The Monsters, a world premiere co-production with Two River Theater, is about two siblings, LIL and BIG, who reunite after a long time apart and must wrestle with their pasts. Nigerian-born actress, playwright, and director Anyanwu has won acclaim for her works Good Grief, The Homecoming Queen, and The Last of the Love Letters. The Monsters is a commission of Two River Theater. 

Additional productions for MTC’s 2025-26 season will be announced soon.

MTC’s 2025-26 SEASON:

Punch

Written by James Graham
Based on the book Right from Wrong by Jacob Dunne
Directed by Adam Penford
Presented in association with Nottingham Playhouse
Fall 2025

Teenage Jacob spends his days tearing through Nottingham in a whirlwind of drugs, girls, and bar fights — but when he makes a fatal mistake, his life changes forever. As he copes with the consequences of his actions and strives to build a new life, he finds a powerful but precarious source of redemption: the parents of the boy he killed. Based on a remarkable true story, Punch is “heartbreaking and heartwarming” (The Times of London), written by two-time Olivier winner James Graham (Ink at MTC, Dear England, “Sherwood”) and directed by Nottingham Playhouse Artistic Director Adam Penford.

The Monsters

Written and Directed by Ngozi Anyanwu
A world premiere co-production with Two River Theater 
Winter 2026

For a long time, LIL has been obsessed with fighting, and one fighter in particular: her older brother BIG, an aging but successful figure in the local Mixed Martial Arts circuit. But she’s been doing it all from afar… until one day when she decides to show up on his doorstep. A World Premiere production with Two River Theater, written and directed by Ngozi Anyanwu (Good Grief, The Homecoming Queen, The Last of the Love Letters), The Monsters is a sibling love story about reunions, resentment, reconnection, and wrestling with demons.