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Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Auburn (Proof, The Columnist) brings Summer, 1976 to Broadway, starring Emmy winner and Oscar and Tony nominee Laura Linney alongside Emmy nominee and 2023 Tony Award nominee Jessica Hecht. Get Summer, 1976 tickets on New York Theatre Guide.
The Summer, 1976 play takes place in Ohio during the national Bicentennial celebration, commemorating 200 years since the U.S. was formed in 1776. During one summer, two women develop an unexpected friendship: the headstrong but naive housewife Alice and the decidedly iconoclastic artist Diana. They help each other find independence as they navigate ordinary moments of intimacy, motherhood, and ambition together, changing each other's lives.
This production is the play's world premiere. It was initially set to go up off Broadway in fall 2022, but will now premiere on Broadway in the spring with Linney. Summer, 1976 is Auburn's latest collaboration with director Daniel Sullivan, after the two helmed the award-winning Proof on Broadway in 2000.
Laura Linney is a stage and screen actress best known for her Emmy-nominated performance as Wendy Byrde on Ozark and Emmy-winning performances in Wild Iris, Frasier, and John Adams. She is also an Oscar nominee for the films You Can Count on Me, Kinsey, and The Savages, and a five-time Tony nominee, most recently for My Name is Lucy Barton on Broadway. She also made her London theatre debut in that play in 2020.
Jessica Hecht is an Emmy-nominated actress for her performance in the Netflix series Special and a Tony nominee for A View From the Bridge and Summer, 1976 on Broadway. In addition to her 10 Broadway credits, she is best known for her screen roles as as Susan Bunch on Friends and Gretchen Schwarz on Breaking Bad.
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1hr 30min (no intermission)
April 4th, 2023
June 18th, 2023
Broadway, Plays, Opening Soon
April 3rd, 2023
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
By: David Auburn
Director: Daniel Sullivan
Producer: Manhattan Theatre Club
Cast list: Laura Linney (as Diana), Jessica Hecht (as Alice)
Design: John Lee Beatty
Costumes: Linda Cho
Lighting: Japhy Weideman
Sound: Jill BC Du Boff
Other info: Projection design by Hana S. Kim, original music by Greg Pliska
Read our review of Summer, 1976 on Broadway, the new play starring Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht and written by Pulitzer Prize winner David Auburn.
Ahead of the Tony Award-nominated actress's return to Broadway in Summer, 1976, look back on all the highlights from her prolific, decades-long stage career.
Ahead of her return to Broadway in Summer, 1976, discover highlights from Linney's decades-long theatre career that show why she's an actress for all seasons.