Video: MCNEAL Cast Unpacks Their Roles

Pulitzer Prize-winner Ayad Akhtar’s new play is now open on Broadway! McNeal, directed by Bartlett Sher, is now running at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. What's it all about?

Good writers borrow, great writers steal. Jacob McNeal is a great writer, one of our greatest, a perpetual candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. But McNeal also has an estranged son, a new novel, old axes to grind and an unhealthy fascination with Artificial Intelligence. 

Robert Downey Jr. plays the man at the center of the story. "He is an aging out writer or renown, who gets some bad news about his health and some great news about winning the Nobel prize. I think it's the blasting cap for this crazy journey that he decides to go on- a truth-telling/seeking journey," he told BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge. "Some of it is about trying to make piece with his life, the parts  that haven't been bestsellers. I find it a fascinating exploration of creativity. And it being set in the near  future is poignant, because it's a little bit of a cautionary take, which I never mind!"

Watch as the cast unpacks their roles and find out even more about the new play here!