Academy Award winner and Tony nominee Jessica Chastain is officially returning to the New York stage this spring, headlining the Broadway premiere of playwright and director Dan Colley's drama Lost Lear alongside stage and screen veterans Corey Stoll and Michael Urie. Announced on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, by producers Seaview, MarketStall, and Mass Productions with Pam Hurst-Della Pietra and Stephen Della Pietra, the production is scheduled for a strictly limited 16-week engagement at the Booth Theatre, according to Deadline. Preview performances will begin on Monday, March 29, 2027, ahead of an official opening night set for Friday, April 23, 2027.

The casting brings together three high-profile performers with deep roots in both dramatic theater and major streaming and film projects.

As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Chastain had recently hinted at an upcoming stage return during an appearance on the Today show while promoting her film work, before confirming her commitment to Colley's play.

Inside the Plot and Characters of 'Lost Lear'

Written and directed by Irish theatermaker Dan Colley, Lost Lear centers on themes of memory, estrangement, and theatrical illusion. In the production, Chastain portrays Joy, a former dramatic actress residing in a care home whose progressing dementia causes her to lose her grip on the present reality. In her altered state of mind, Joy becomes convinced that she is actively in the middle of rehearsals for William Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear.

To maintain her peace of mind and communicate with her inside the care facility, her nurse, Liam—played by Michael Urie—takes his cues directly from Joy's imagination, stepping into whatever theatrical role she needs him to play at any given moment, according to casting details cited by Broadway.com and Deadline.

The delicate routine at the care home is disrupted when Joy's estranged son, Conor, played by Corey Stoll, arrives for a visit.

According to the official production synopsis, Conor comes to the facility prepared to confront his mother with personal truths he has spent years leaving unsaid. However, because Joy is anchored within her rehearsal memories, Conor realizes that if he wants his mother to truly hear him, he must step directly into the Shakespearean scene alongside her and her nurse.

From International Festivals to the Booth Theatre

The upcoming spring engagement marks the Broadway debut for playwright and director Dan Colley. Before securing a commercial house in New York, Lost Lear built an international reputation on the festival and touring circuit. The play originally premiered at the Dublin Theatre Festival in 2022 and subsequently toured across the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and the United States.

In 2025, the work was presented at the Traverse Theatre during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it won the prestigious Scotsman Fringe First award.

In an official statement accompanying the Broadway announcement, Colley reflected on the play's trajectory from its early festival days to Midtown Manhattan.

"I never imagined, when we first made Lost Lear, that it would one day be on Broadway – and I've imagined some pretty wild things," Colley stated, as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter. "I'm so thrilled to have the opportunity to share this piece with New York audiences and to discover new facets of the work through collaborating with this remarkable company of artists."

To bring the memory-shifting mechanics of the play to the Booth Theatre, the producers have assembled an experienced Broadway creative team. The physical and technical staging will feature production design by Scott Pask, lighting design by Heather Gilbert, and sound design by Cody Spencer. Projection design will be handled jointly by Hana S. Kim and Yana Biryukova, while Daniel McAuley will provide original music for the production.

Producers noted that additional casting for the company will be announced at a later date.

Career Milestones for the Principal Cast

For Jessica Chastain, Lost Lear follows her celebrated 2023 Broadway run in the revival of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, a box-office record-breaker that earned her a Tony Award nomination. Best known on screen for winning the Best Actress Oscar for The Eyes of Tammy Faye after earlier Academy Award nominations for The Help and Zero Dark Thirty, Chastain has maintained a packed production schedule leading up to her 2027 theater return. Following her recent appearance in Universal Pictures' Other Mommy, she is set to appear in the Netflix film Heartland directed by Shana Feste, as well as the Apple TV limited series Off Weeks opposite Ben Stiller. She is also in production on the Netflix drama series The Retrievals alongside Emilia Jones and Amy Ryan.

Corey Stoll returns to the Broadway stage following his 2024 Tony-nominated performance opposite Sarah Paulson in Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins' acclaimed family drama Appropriate.

Stoll holds an extensive theatrical resume, including off-Broadway and regional productions of Macbeth, Othello, Lynn Nottage's Intimate Apparel, and What Happened Was. On television and film, audiences know him from prominent roles in House of Cards, Billions, the Ant-Man franchise, and This Is Where I Leave You. He currently appears in the Apple limited series Imperfect Women, recently wrapped the independent series Recap, and has been filming an untitled Monsterverse series for Apple alongside an adaptation of Dan Brown's The Secret of Secrets.

Michael Urie brings a strong background in both contemporary comedy and dramatic stage work to the role of Liam. A regular fixture on the New York stage, confirmed by Playbill and BroadwayWorld.com to be joining the trio, Urie most recently appeared on Broadway in the hit comedy Oh, Mary!. His prior Broadway credits include the 2024 revival of Once Upon a Mattress, the revival of Spamalot, and Harvey Fierstein's Torch Song.

On television, Urie stars as Brian in the Apple TV+ series Shrinking.

What Theatergoers Should Know About the Run

With stars of Chastain, Stoll, and Urie's caliber attached to an intimate play at the Booth Theatre, demand for the 16-week engagement is expected to be high throughout the spring and summer of 2027. Because the production opens on April 23, 2027, its timing positions Lost Lear right at the cutoff window for the 2026–2027 Broadway awards season, potentially making Chastain, Stoll, Urie, and Colley major contenders in the spring play categories.

When does 'Lost Lear' begin performances on Broadway?

Preview performances for Lost Lear are scheduled to begin on Monday, March 29, 2027, at the Booth Theatre in New York City, with the official opening night set for Friday, April 23, 2027. The play is booked for a limited 16-week engagement.

Have full casting and understudies been announced?

As of the initial November 2026 announcement, only the three lead performers—Jessica Chastain, Corey Stoll, and Michael Urie—and the core design team have been named.

Producers stated that additional casting and understudy assignments will be disclosed at a future date.

How is Shakespeare's 'King Lear' used in the play?

Rather than a traditional staging of Shakespeare's play, Lost Lear uses King Lear as a framing device within a contemporary family drama. Chastain's character, a former actress living with dementia in a care home, believes she is rehearsing the classic tragedy, forcing her nurse and her visiting estranged son to participate in her imagined rehearsals in order to communicate with her.

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