“Downstate,” the highly controversial play by Bruce Norris about a group home for men formerly imprisoned for sex crimes against minors, was announced this morning as opening on Broadway in the Fall — at the same time that “Small Mouth Sounds,” the silent comedy by Bess Wohl, was announced to open on Broadway in the Spring with a starry ensemble that reunites Julia Roberts with Paul Rudd in her second-ever Broadway role. The connection between the two plays? Both will be directed by Joe Mantello. Scott Rudin and Barry Diller are producing both of them. And both are being marketed together in an unprecedented, too-clever promotional scheme that is attempting to leverage the appeal of the Spring play to motivate people to buy tickets to the Fall one.

This requires some unpacking,

Downstate

“Downstate” is scheduled to open on November 15, at the Booth Theater, in a run from October 17 through January 1, 2027. The eight-member cast features Cassie Beck, K. Todd Freeman, Francis Guinan, Adrian Martinez, Al’Jaleel McGhee, Thomas Sadoski, Ivy Wolk, and Liza Colón-Zayas.

Both Freeman and Guinan were in the 2022 Off-Broadway production at Playwrights Horizons, In my review, I was impressed by Norris’ ability to navigate such an explosive premise with humor, intelligence and compassion, and by the superb acting and fine direction (by Pam MacKinnon.) But I felt more ambivalent about Norris’ evident larger purpose in writing the play — to change the audience’s perspective about people viewed universally as repugnant, especially what he clearly sees as the unjustly harsh and lifelong punishment that Society both formally and informally levies on even one-time offenders.

People who had not seen “Downstate” nevertheless attacked it publicly for “normalizing pedophilia”; the loudest assailant was  U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, who even attacked a drama critic who had praised it; Peter Marks of the Washington Post was consequently so targeted that he had to turn his Twitter account private. (I probably wasn’t visible enough to be attacked, Ironically the traffic to my review reached record levels, because the Post review was behind a paywall.)

The play accelerated the contrarian reputation that Norris had established with his Broadway debut play a decade earlier, “Clybourne Park,” which updates Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun,” — or more accurately, presents the story from a different perspective and in a different era, turning it on its head.. (In an interview at the time, he recalled being assigned Hansberry’s play in junior high school and loving it, but identifying with the lone white character in it.) Norris won the Pulitzer Prize for “Clybourne Park” — a prize that Hansberry never won for her original.

Another layer of irony: Scott Rudin had committed to become lead producer of “Clybounre Park” on Broadway but Norris, who is both a writer and an actor, turned down a role in Rudin’s HBO TV series based on Jonathan Franzen’s “The Corrections,.” This so infuriated Rudin that he withdrew as producer. Fourteen years later, the producer has apparently forgiven the playwright.

Small Mouth Sounds

“Small Mouth Sounds,” Bess Wohl’s play about six characters who are attending a silent retreat, will begin previews February 18, 2027, with an opening at the Ethel Barrymore scheduled for March 18. Julia Roberts joins an ensemble cast that includes Martin Freeman, Greta Lee, Sarah Paulson, Isaac Powell, and Paul Rudd.

I loved this play when I saw it in 2016 in an Ars Nova production at Signature Theater Center (my review) As I wrote then: It contains almost no dialogue, but it speaks volumes. It is a satire, but it treats its subject with respect. It is a comedy, but it slowly reveals each individual’s tragedy. This was my introduction to the Wohl’s work, always experimental, always in service of a deep connection, most recently her Tony and Pulitzer-winning “Liberation.”

Marketing Downstate and Small Mouth Sounds together

“Downstate” is deliberately provocative “Small Mouth Sounds” is, as its title promises, a small and literally quiet work. The connection between the two challenging works of theater is…nil.

That does not stop the producers from concocting a promotional scheme to tie them together, as they explain at great length on a webpage.

“Buy a $150+ ticket to DOWNSTATE, and get access to purchase a ticket to SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS for $250 This is an unprecedented opportunity to get both shows for $400, for a limited time only.”

It includes questions and answers, including these exchange:

“I DON’T WANT TO SEE DOWNSTATE. CAN I JUST BUY SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS FOR $250?

“No. The $250 SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS price is part of this special two-show offer and is available only in connection with a qualifying DOWNSTATE purchase…..

“CAN YOU MAKE AN EXCEPTION FOR ME?

“No. The $250 SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS price is available specifically as part of the limited two-show offer, and the same eligibility requirements apply to all customers.”

Am I overreacting to see this promotional pairing as unseemly? Scott Rudin was the producer who was accused in 2021 of being a bully. after an exposé published by The Hollywood Reporter detailed decades of explosive, violent, and abusive behavior, The backlash prompted him into a “period of reflection” and “a decent amount of therapy” that lasted four years — until he staged a comeback, first last October with “Little Bear Ridge Road” and then, six months later (not paired) “Death of a Salesman.” Apparently he sees his comeback as complete. Is this marketing overreach just a new, gentler form of bullying?