The Audra McDonald-fronted The Ohio State Murders will be the first show in Broadway’s James Earl Jones Theatre.
Tony Award-winning director Kenny Leon is bringing the Adrienne Kennedy play to Broadway, which stars McDonald, a six-time Tony Award winner. The drama will be the first performance to take place at the recently renamed and restored venue.
Here's the official synopsis of the upcoming broadway play:
When writer Suzanne Alexander (Audra McDonald) returns to her alma mater as a guest speaker, in which she explores the violence in her works, a dark mystery unravels. Adrienne Kennedy’s Ohio State Murders is an intriguing and unusual suspense play, as well as a social pertinent look at the destructiveness of racism in our society.
Previews start on Nov. 11 and the performance opens on December 8 at the James Earl Jones Theatre (previously the Cort Theatre at 138 West 48th St.).
The debut production is presented by Jeffrey Richards, Lincoln Center Theater, Rebecca Gold, Jayne Baron Sherman, Hunter Arnold, Irene Gandy, Kevin Ryan/Lisa Alexander Taylor, Marc David Levine, Concord Theatricals, The Nederlander Organization, and The Shubert Organization.
Kennedy will make her Broadway debut with this play at the age of 91.
She is a member of the Theater Hall of Fame and the recipient of the Obie Lifetime Achievement Award (The New York Times). Kennedy received the Academy of Arts and Letters’ Gold Medal for Drama earlier this year, which is given to individuals who have attained distinction throughout a body of work.
“I’m honored and humbled to be part of Adrienne Kennedy’s long-overdue Broadway debut in the newly dedicated James Earl Jones Theatre with Kenny Leon,” said Audra McDonald. “This timeless play has a powerful resonance and relevance today, and we can’t wait to share it with the world.”
The James Earl Jones Theatre, formerly the 110-year-old Cort Theatre, has undergone major rehabilitation and construction work by the Shubert Organization, including the building of a new, modern wing.
