Steve Carell Will Make His Broadway Debut in UNCLE VANYA; Additional Cast Revealed!

Steve Carell is headed to Broadway! The actor, best known for starring in the television series The Office, will make his Broadway debut in Lincoln Center Theater's upcoming production of Anton Chekhov’s classic UNCLE VANYA, featuring a new translation by Heidi Schreck, directed by Lila Neugebauer.

The production will begin previews Tuesday, April 2, 2024, and open on Wednesday, April 24, 2024, at the Vivian Beaumont Theater (150 West 65 Street). 

The cast will feature Carell as Vanya, in his Broadway debut, William Jackson Harper as Astrov, Jayne Houdyshell as Mama Voinitski, Mia Katigbak as Marina, Alfred Molina as Alexander Serabryakov, Alison Pill as Sonya, and Anika Noni Rose as Yelena. Complete casting will be announced soon.

Tickets to UNCLE VANYA, priced from $39 to $179, will be available at the Lincoln Center Theater box office, at telecharge.com, or by visiting www.LCT.org beginning Friday, December 8 at 12pm Eastern.  A limited number of tickets priced at $32 are available at every performance through LincTix, LCT’s program for 21 to 35-year-olds.  For information and to enroll, visit LincTix.org.

Sonya (Alison Pill) and her Uncle Vanya (Steve Carell) have devoted their lives to managing the family farm in isolation, but when her celebrated, ailing father (Alfred Molina) and his charismatic wife (Anika Noni Rose) move in, their lives are upended. In the heat of the summer, the wrong people fall in love, desires and resentments erupt, and the family is forced to reckon with the ghosts of their unlived lives. Director Lila Neugebauer and playwright Heidi Schreck collaborate on the premiere of this Lincoln Center Theater production of UNCLE VANYA, which pairs Chekhov's enduring masterpiece with one of America's most celebrated contemporary playwrights in a strikingly immediate new translation.

UNCLE VANYA will have sets by Mimi Lien, costumes by Kaye Voyce, lighting by Lap Chi Chu and Elizabeth Harper, and sound by Mikhail Fiksel and Beth Lake.  Charles M. Turner III will be stage manager. 

ANTON PAVLOVICH CHEKHOV (1860-1904) was born in Taganrog, a port city in southwestern Russia, less than 100 kilometers from the border of present-day Ukraine. Chekhov’s grandfather was a serf who had bought his family’s liberation before the end of serfdom in 1861, young Anton grew up largely in poverty and paid his way through medical school in Moscow by writing short humor vignettes centered on daily Russian life. In 1887, a theatre manager commissioned Chekhov to write a play, the result of which was Ivanov. Chekhov followed that play with four more that would go on to become pillars of modern drama: The Seagull (1895), Uncle Vanya (1897), Three Sisters (1900), and The Cherry Orchard (1903). He died from tuberculosis at the age of 44, leaving behind a body of work that spanned poems, plays, short stories, and novellas.   

Heidi Schreck is a writer and performer living in Brooklyn. Her critically acclaimed play What the Constitution Means to Me played an extended, sold-out run on Broadway in 2019, and was nominated for two Tony Awards. It had subsequent runs at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the Mark Taper Forum, The Guthrie, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and at theaters all over the country. A filmed version of the play premiered on Amazon Prime Video, and was nominated for a Critics Choice Award, a PGA Award and DGA Award. What the Constitution Means to Me was named Best of the Year by the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, Time Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, The New Yorker and more. Schreck’s other plays Grand Concourse, Creature, and There Are No More Big Secrets have also been produced in NYC and throughout the United States. Screenwriting credits include “I Love Dick,” “Billions,” “Nurse Jackie,” “Dispatches from Elsewhere.” She is the recipient of three Obie Awards, a Drama Desk Award, and a Theatre World Award; as well as the Horton Foote Playwriting Award and the Hull-Warriner Award from the Dramatists Guild. She has also worked as a teacher and journalist in St Petersburg, Russia and has done live simultaneous translations of plays by Chekhov, Gorky, and Ostrovksy. Schreck was awarded Smithsonian Magazine’s 2019 American Ingenuity Award, for her work in the Performing Arts. 

Lila Neugebauer is an award-winning stage and screen director. Her work at Lincoln Center Theater includes Sarah DeLappe's The Wolves, Zoe Kazan's After the Blast, and Abe Koogler's Kill Floor. Broadway: Kenneth Lonergan’s The Waverly Gallery. Recent off-Broadway: Simon Stephens’ Morning Sun (MTC); Tracy Letts’ Mary Page Marlowe (Second Stage), Annie Baker’s The Antipodes, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Everbody, Edward Albee’s At Home at the Zoo: Homelife/The Zoo Story (Signature Theatre). As co-Artistic Director of The Mad Ones: Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie (Ars Nova) and Miles for Mary (Playwrights Horizons), among others. Lila is an alum of the Drama League, Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, an Ensemble Studio Theatre member, New Georges Affiliated Artist, and New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect. Obie Award, Drama Desk Sam Norkin Special Award, and Princess Grace Award recipient. TV: “Maid” (Netflix); “The Last Thing He Told Me” (Apple TV+); “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” “Room 104” (HBO Max). Lila’s directorial feature debut Causeway, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry (Oscar nomination) is available on AppleTV+.

In addition to UNCLE VANYA, Lincoln Center Theater’s current season includes the New York premiere of The Gardens of Anuncia, a new musical by Michael John LaChiusa, featuring direction and co-choreography by Graciela Daniele, currently in previews ahead of a Monday, November 20 opening at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater; Daphne, a new play at LCT3 by Renae Simone Jarrett, directed by Sarah Hughes, currently playing at the Claire Tow Theater through Sunday, November 19; Corruption, a new play by J.T. Rogers, directed by Bartlett Sher which will begin previews on Thursday, February 15 and open on Monday, March 11 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse; as well as additional productions to be announced.

Cast Biographies

Steve Carell. An Academy Award nominee, Mr. Carell makes his Broadway and Lincoln Center Theater debut in this production of Uncle Vanya. Carell first garnered critical recognition for his contributions as a correspondent on Comedy Central's Emmy Award-winning “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” Over the course of two decades, Carell has successfully segued from the small screen to above-the-title status on the big screen, both in big-budget films and arthouse indies. Recently, Carell has appeared in Wes Anderson’s original film Asteroid City (debuted at the Cannes Film Festival); served as an executive producer and starred in FX’s “The Patient” (Screen Actors Guild Award nomination); co-created, executive produced with Greg Daniels and starred in the Netflix original series “Space Force;” and appeared in two seasons of the Apple TV+ series “The Morning Show” (SAG and Emmy award nominations). His additional film work includes Paramount’s upcoming If (created and directed by John Krasinski); Minions: The Rise of Gru; the Despicable Me series; Irresistible; Robert Zemeckis’ Welcome to Marwen; Annapurna’s Vice; Beautiful Boy; Battle of the Sexes (Golden Globe, SAG award nominations); Last Flag Flying; Woody Allen’s Café Society and Melinda and Melinda; The Big Short (Golden Globe Award nomination); Peter Sollett’s Freeheld; Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher (Academy Award, SAG, BAFTA, Golden Globe award nominations); The-40-Year-Old-Virgin (co-wrote with director Judd Apatow, Writer’s Guild of America Award nomination for “Best Original Screenplay”); Get Smart; Little Miss Sunshine (SAG Award for “Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture”); Crazy, Stupid, Love (produced under Carell’s production banner, Carousel Productions); Seeking a Friend For the End of the World; Hope Springs; The Incredible Burt Wonderstone; The Way, Way Back; Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day; Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy; Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues; Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who; and Over the Hedge. On TV Carell completed an eight-year run playing Michael Scott on the Emmy-nominated NBC comedy “The Office” for which he won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for six Emmy awards and four SAG Awards (winning two as a part of the show’s ensemble). Carell and his wife Nancy co-created, and executive produced the TBS police comedy series “Angie Tribeca” (starring Rashida Jones) which ran for four seasons.

William Jackson Harper. LCT3: After the Blast. An Emmy nominee, William Jackson Harper was recently seen opposite Paul Rudd in Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and in MGM’s Landscape with Invisible Hand (premiered at Sundance). Earlier this year, Harper received critical acclaim in Eboni Booth’s Primary Trust at Roundabout Theatre Company. In 2022, Harper starred in Peacock’s series “The Resort.” In 2021, he starred as Marcus Watkins in HBO Max’s anthology series “Love Life” (also executive produced; Critics’ Choice and NAACP Image award nominations). He recently completed production on the Netflix limited series “A Man in Full” (executive produced by David E. Kelley and Regina King), and the new animated film Jodie (MTV). In 2021, Harper starred in the indie We Broke Up and as Royal in Barry Jenkins’ Emmy nominated Amazon limited series “The Underground Railroad” (Critics’ Choice Award nomination). From 2016-2020, Harper portrayed Chidi in NBC’s award-winning comedy series “The Good Place” (Emmy nomination and two consecutive Critics’ Choice Award nominations). In 2020, Harper narrated the Marvel audio book series Black Panther: Sins of the King. He also starred in the Williamstown Theatre Festival’s Audible presentation of Stacy Osei-Kuffour’s Animals. In 2019, Harper starred in the Focus Features’ Dark Waters (directed by Todd Haynes). Harper also starred in A24’s thriller Midsommar (directed by Ari Aster). His additional feature film credits include Lost Holiday, Paterson, True Story, All Good Things and How to Tell You’re a Douchebag. On TV, Harper co-starred as Xander in the second season of Amazon’s “Jack Ryan.” Additionally, he has made guest appearances on numerous series including “30 Rock,” “The Blacklist,” “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: CI,” “Deadbeat,” “High Maintenance,” “Unforgettable,” the PBS children’s series “The Electric Company,” and the telefilms “The Breaks” and “The Share.” His theater credits include appearing on Broadway in the Tony Award winning play “All the Way,” with Bryan Cranston; his 2018 playwriting debut with the drama Travisville (Ensemble Studio Theatre); A Family for All Occasions (LAByrinth); Modern Terrorism (Second Stage); The Total Bent, Titus Andronicus, Measure for Measure (The Public); Placebo, A Cool Dip in the Barren Saharan Crick (Playwrights Horizons); and Queens Boulevard, Paradise Park (Signature). Harper also has numerous regional theater credits including Ruined, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing and Romeo and Juliet.

Jayne Houdyshell. LCT: The New Century. Broadway: The Music Man (2022 Tony nomination); King Lear; A Doll’s House, Part 2 (2017 Tony nomination); The Humans (2016 Tony Award); Fish in the Dark; Dead Accounts; Romeo and Juliet; Follies (2012 Tony nomination); The Importance of Being Earnest; Bye Bye Birdie; Wicked; Well (2016 Tony nomination, Theatre World Award). Off-Broadway: The Pain and the Itch (Playwrights Horizons), Well (The Public), The Language Archive (Roundabout), Relevance (MCC), The Receptionist (MTC), Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare in the Park). Two Drama Desk awards, two Obies and the Lily Award. Regional credits include classical and modern plays at Yale Rep, McCarter, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Arena Stage, Alabama Shakespeare Festival and many others. Film: Causeway, The Humans, Litle Women, The Chaperone, Everybody’s Fine, Changing Lanes, Garden State. TV: “Only Murders in the Building,” “The Good Fight,” “Evil,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Elementary,” “Blue Bloods.”

Mia Katigbak. LCT3: The Headlands. NY theater: Annie Baker's Infinite Life (Atlantic/National Theatre, London); Romeo and Juliet, Out of Time, Caryl Churchill’s What If Only (US premiere), Henry VI (St. Clair Bayfield Award for Best Supporting Role in a Shakespeare Play), Awake and Sing (Obie Award) all with NAATCO (National Asian American Theatre Co.); Russian Troll Farm an on-line and live-edited play (TheaterWorks Hartford/TheatreSquared/Civilians); A Delicate Balance (Transport Group); Dear Elizabeth (WP); Ivo van Hove’s Scenes From a Marriage (NYTW); Good Person of Szechwan (Foundry/The Public); as well as productions with Soho Rep, New Georges, New Group, Ma-Yi, Target Margin, Clubbed Thumb and Bushwick Starr. Regional: Two River, Yale Rep, Long Wharf, Humana Festival at The Actors Theatre of Louisville, Berkeley Rep, and the Guthrie. TV: “How to Get Away With Murder,” “The Sinner,” “Chicago PD,” “Mysteries of Laura,” “Conviction.” Awards include USA Fellowship (2021), TCG’s 2017 Fox Foundation Resident Actor Fellow for Distinguished Achievement, Special Drama Desk Award (2019). She is the actor-manager and co-founder of the award-winning, New York City based NAATCO. Education: BA, Barnard College; MA, Columbia University.

Alfred Molina was born in Paddington, London to a Spanish immigrant father and an Italian immigrant mother who moved to Britain after WWII. Alfred emigrated to the U.S. in 1993. A seasoned theater and film actor, Molina has been featured in an extensive range of plays and films, from Oklahoma! in the West End (which earned him a Laurence Olivier Award nomination) to Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. Alfred made his Broadway debut in Yasmina Reza’s Art in 1998 and subsequently performed on Broadway as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof and Mark Rothko in Red. He was seen on The Pasadena Playhouse stage in his award-winning role in The Father (Ovation Award, LA Drama Critics Circle Award) and more recently in Inherit the Wind. He is married to director Jennifer Lee and the couple split their time between New York and Los Angeles. 

Alison Pill will soon star in M. Night Shyamalan’s next untitled feature film. She recently did a reading of Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman (directed by Lila Neugebauer) for Williamstown Theatre Festival's 2023 season. She also starred in the independent feature Eric Larue (directed by Michael Shannon, premiered at Tribeca Film Festival 2023). She will also star in the independent feature film Young Werther opposite Douglas Booth. On TV, she can recently be seen starring in “Hello Tomorrow!” (Apple TV+) and was also a series regular in two seasons of the CBS All Access series “Star Trek: Picard,” Alex Garland’s FX limited series “Devs,” and the Amazon series “Them.” Pill’s other TV work includes Ryan Murphy’s “American Horror Story: Cult,” the ABC drama “The Family,” the acclaimed Aaron Sorkin HBO series “The Newsroom,” the HBO drama “In Treatment,” “The Book of Daniel” and “Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows.” As for voiceover work, her voice will next be heard when her original Scott Pilgrim character of Kim Pine is reprised in the new anime reboot “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” (Netflix). Recent film credits include Peter Hedges’ The Same Storm, All My Puny Sorrow (premiered at TIFF in 2021) and the Oscar-nominated biopic Vice (written and directed by Adam McKay). Alison can also be seen in Miss Sloane, Hail Caesar!, Snowpiercer, Goon, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Milk, Dan in Real Life, Dear Wendy and Pieces of April.  Alison starred on Broadway in the Tony-nominated production of Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women (directed by Joe Mantello) opposite Glenda Jackson and Laurie Metcalf. She was nominated for a Tony Award for her Broadway debut in The Lieutenant of an Inishmore and for a Lucille Lortel Award for On the Mountain.  She won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble in the U.S. premiere of The Distance From Here. She is represented by The Burstein Company and CAA.

Anika Noni Rose won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role in Caroline, or Change (also receiving the Lucille Lortel, Theatre World, Obie and Clarence Derwent awards and a Drama Desk nomination). Her additional Broadway credits include A Raisin in the Sun (Tony Award and Outer Critics Circle nominations), Cat on A Hot Tin Roof directed by Debbie Allen and Footloose. Additional stage credits include Carmen Jones (Lucille Lortel and AUDELCO awards; Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations); and the New York Philharmonic's production of Company. Rose drew notice for her acclaimed performance as Regina in Netflix’s most-watched limited series to date, “Maid” (2022 NAACP Image Awards nomination, one of nine she has received).  Rose appeared in Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (Netflix), Lena Waithe’s “Them” (Amazon) and “Little Fires Everywhere” (Hulu). Additionally, Anika led the cast of BET’s series “The Quad” as Eva Fletcher, starred in the film Everything, Everything and in the History Channel’s adaptation of “Roots” as Kizzy (NAACP Image Award nomination).  Anika starred as Lorell Robinson in Dreamgirls (AFI Ensemble Award, SAG Award nomination, Grammy Award nomination). Additional TV and film credits include “The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency” (HBO), For Colored Girls, Half of A Yellow Sun, Assassination Nation and recently, Showtime’s “Let the Right One In.”  Anika voiced Princess Tiana in Disney’s The Princess and The Frog, featuring the first African American Disney Princess. The film received three Oscar nominations and Anika became the youngest inductee to ever be honored as a Disney Legend.