Playwrights Horizons Announces Casting for Downstate and Catch as Catch Can

Playwrights Horizons has announced casting for two of its upcoming productions of the 2022-23 season — Downstate by Bruce Norris and Catch as Catch Can by Mia Chung.

Downstate, directed by Pam MacKinnon, will have its New York premiere from October 28-December 11 with an official November 15 opening on Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage. The cast will feature Glenn Davis, K. Todd Freeman, Francis Guinan, Susanna Guzmán, Tim Hopper, Sally Murphy, Gabi Samels, and Eddie Torres.

As described by press materials, "Downstate sits audiences down to witness a single day within the home where Fred (Guinan), Dee (Freeman), Gio (Davis), and Felix (Torres) tightly cohabitate: four random lives thrust into shared space by only one chilling commonality. They have all been released back from their respective sentences into the permanent prison of an excommunicated existence."

Downstate was commissioned and previously produced by Steppenwolf Theatre Company (where it made its world premiere in 2018) and the National Theatre.

Directed by Daniel Aukin, Catch as Catch Can will run from October 14-November 20 (November 1 opening) in the Peter Jay Sharp Theater. The cast will include Cindy Cheung, Jon Norman Schneider, and Rob Yang, and the play is described as follows: "Set deep in blue-collar New England, Catch as Catch Can centers on the Phelans and the Lavecchias as they welcome home a recently-engaged prodigal son—setting off an evolving crisis that reshapes their lives, and the play itself."

Originally produced by Page 73 Productions, Catch as Catch Can features a revised script and an entirely new creative team for its Playwrights Horizons mounting.