Guide to 'Small Mouth Sounds' on Broadway starring Julia Roberts, Paul Rudd, Sarah Paulson, Martin Freeman, Greta Lee, and Isaac Powell

In Small Mouth Sounds, six men and women at a spiritual silent retreat try to cope with life's painful realities and to connect. We follow their search for inner peace and transformation over the course of several mostly wordless days.

Beginning February 18, 2027, Small Mouth Sounds plays at the Barrymore Theatre, located at 243 W. 47th St. The 1,096-seat theatre’s namesake, Ethel Barrymore, starred in shows like The Kingdom of God and The School for Scandal.

Here There Are Blueberries runs at the venue first in fall 2026, and other plays and musicals recently presented there include Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Othello, Our Town, Patriots, Harmony, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, and The Piano Lesson.

Small Mouth Sounds is expected to run around 90 minutes, as it did off Broadway. This is subject to change as performances get closer.

Small Mouth Sounds is generally recommended for audiences ages 13+ due to mature themes, including nudity. The Broadway production has yet to release an age requirement; this article will be updated with that information once announced.

Small Mouth Sounds is expected to play a standard Broadway schedule: eight performances per week between Tuesday and Sunday, with two performances on Wednesdays and Saturdays and no performances on Mondays. The schedule is subject to one-off changes, particularly around holidays.

Small Mouth Sounds made its world premiere off Broadway in 2015 at Ars Nova, followed by an Off-Broadway return at Signature Theatre in 2016, a U.S. tour in 2017, and a Chicago staging in 2018. The play debuts on Broadway on February 18, 2027.

Bess Wohl wrote Small Mouth Sounds. The American playwright and screenwriter is best known for her Pulitzer Prize- and Best Play Tony Award-winning Liberation, about a 1970s women’s consciousness-raising group.

Known for clever, incisive works about women, relationships, identity, and change, Wohl’s other plays include Grand Horizons, Make Believe, and Camp Siegfried, as well as the book to the musical Pretty Filthy.

At a retreat guided by a teacher who’s heard but never seen, strangers with emotional baggage seek peace of mind. That proves elusive.

• Joan: A therapist and sex educator whose deep-seated anger is rooted in childhood.
• Judy: Joan’s devoted partner, an editor who values control.
• Alicia: A former child actor whose career and personal life have hit rough patches.
• Ned: A man whose extreme run of back luck has led him to self-help.
• Rodney: A dreamy yoga instructor who appears to be totally together.
• Jan: A pastor from Finland dealing with loss.
• Teacher: The unseen (to us) leader of the retreat, represented by voiceovers.

The star-studded Broadway cast of Small Mouth Sounds features Julia Roberts as Joan, Sarah Paulson as Judy, Paul Rudd as Ned, Greta Lee as Alicia, Isaac Powell as Rodney, and Martin Freeman in his Broadway debut as Jan. The actor playing the voice role of the teacher hasn’t been announced.

Small Mouth Sounds received various prizes and nominations for its Off-Broadway and Chicago productions. The Broadway staging will be eligible for Tony Awards and other honors in 2027.

• Outer Critics Circle Award: In 2017, Bess Wohl won the John Gassner Award for Best New Play.
• Drama League Awards: In 2017, Marcia DeBonis, who played Joan, was nominated for Distinguished Performance.
• Jeff Awards: In 2019, the Chicago production was nominated for Best Ensemble and for its sound design.

Small Mouth Sounds has had a number of noteworthy stagings since its Off-Broadway debut.

• 2015: The world premiere, directed by Rachel Chavkin, runs from March 10 to April 25 at Ars Nova.
• 2016: The Off-Broadway return, directed by Chavkin with several original cast members, runs July 3 to September 25 at the Pershing Square Signature Center.
• 2017: A six-city U.S. tour runs from August 29, 2017 to April 1, 2018.
• 2018: The Chicago premiere, directed by Shade Murray, runs at A Red Orchid Theatre from October 18 to December 9.
• 2027: The Broadway-debut production begins February 18 at the Barrymore Theatre, directed by 2026 Tony Award winner Joe Mantello.

Discover fun facts about Small Mouth Sounds that will make great conversation starters.

• Bess Wohl got the idea for Small Mouth Sounds after attending the Omega Institute, a retreat center in upstate New York. Hey, write what you know!
• Julia Roberts and Paul Rudd reunite on Broadway 21 years after sharing the stage in Three Days of Rain, which is getting revived this spring at the same time as Small Mouth Sounds plays.
• Director Joe Mantello is also staging the fall Broadway debut of Bruce Norris’s gritty play Downstate.
• Mantello has reteamed with Caroline Shaw (music), who was up for a Tony for Death of a Salesman, as well as Chloe Langford (set) and Jack Knowles (lighting), who each won a Tony for their work on the Arthur Miller revival.
• The author and star of the current Broadway play Paranormal Activity, Levi Holloway and Travis A. Knight, were in the 2018 Chicago run of Small Mouth Sounds.

Get Small Mouth Sounds tickets on New York Theatre Guide soon. Between the star-studded cast and award-winning creatives, this Broadway-debut play will be the talk of the town.