The Unbelievers
by Nick Payne
directed by Knud Adams
with Lauren Ambrose, Jaspal Binning, Brittany Bradford, Jack DiFalco, Marjan Neshat, Tom Riley, Nina Ross, Hadi Tabbal, Elizabeth Yeoman
OFF-BROADWAY AT
New York City Center Stage I
Performances begin October 13, 2026
Faith means believing in something. Especially when it feels impossible. As the years go by and the mystery of the sudden disappearance of Miriam and David’s teenage son remains unsolved, their blended family must figure out how to go on, relearning how to live through the ups and downs of ordinary days in their altered world.
From the Tony and Olivier Award-nominated writer Nick Payne (Constellations, Incognito) and the Tony-nominated director Knud Adams (English, Primary Trust), comes this poignant and disarmingly funny new play about the power of hope.
Major support for The Unbelievers is provided by Regina D. Kessler.
CLICK TO EXPLORE THE SEATING CHART.
On-stage seating available
General Info / Accessibility
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Click here for a seating chart. Stage I seats 299. Standard seating for this production is accessible to people with disabilities. Pleas enote that on stage seating is NOT accessible at this time. All seating is equipped with both assistive listening and hearing-aid compatible devices. For more information on accessibility, please click here.
Run time is approximately 110 minutes with no intermission.
This production features haze.
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Cast
Lauren Ambrose
Miriam Wright
Lauren Ambrose is known for her celebrated performance as Eliza Doolittle in Lincoln Center Theater’s Broadway revival of My Fair Lady (Tony nomination, Outer Critics Circle Award, Grammy, Drama League nominations).
She made her London stage debut in Sam Shepard’s Buried Child at the Royal National Theater and her Broadway debut in Lincoln Center Theater’s revival of Clifford Odets’ Awake and Sing! (Drama Desk Award Outstanding Ensemble). Ambrose starred in the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (Drama League Award nomination) and returned as Ophelia in Hamlet. She played Queen Marie in the Broadway revival of Exit the King.
Her film credits include Caddo Lake, Where the Wild Things Are, Psycho Beach Party, Wanderlust, The River, Can’t Hardly Wait, and In & Out. Her TV credits include her memorable performance in HBO’s “Six Feet Under,” for which she earned multiple Emmy nominations and SAG awards, Apple TV+’s “Servant” (Critics Choice Award Nomination), “Torchwood,” and “Yellowjackets.”
Jaspal Binning
PC Jay Shah/Anil Singh
Jaspal Binning is a New York-based English-Indian actor, director, producer and creator. He is thrilled to be making his MTC debut! He has been fortunate to work at The Flea, New York Theatre Workshop, Signature Theatre and EST over the years.
His TV credits include the Netflix Series “Brown Nation”, the NBC series “New Amsterdam” and HBO’s “The Newsroom”. He is also a lead actor and director on the Emmy-nominated Amazon series “Doomsday” for which he won the Best Director Award at the New York Television Festival.
On the silver screen, he appeared as a lead in the award-winning independent movies In The Weeds, American Warrior, and the upcoming movie Zoe.
He wants to thank his Mum, Dad, Nani, Isaac, Chad, Mel, Abraham, Donald, Alex and Liz for their love and support over the years. This is for you!
He is represented by Rosier Artist Management and McLean-Williams Management. @jsbinning
Brittany Bradford
PC Angela Fisher/Mia Olsson
Broadway: Bernhardt/Hamlet. Off Broadway: The Comeuppance (Obie Award, Signature Theatre), Business Ideas (Clubbed Thumb), Wedding Band (Obie Award, TFANA), Fefu and Her Friends (TFANA), Mac Beth (Hunter Theater Project), Merrily We Roll Along (Roundabout/Fiasco Theater). Regional: Alien Girls (Old Globe), Leroy & Lucy (Steppenwolf). TV: “Julia” (HBO Max), “The Terror” (AMC), “The Watcher” (Netflix), “The Gilded Age” (HBO Max), “Dead Ringers” (Amazon), “Fire Country” (CBS), “Fear the Walking Dead” (AMC), “New Amsterdam” (NBC), “Chicago Med” (NBC), and “Escorted” (Amazon, upcoming). Film: The Same Storm (dir. Peter Hedges), Floating Carousel, August (dir. Nick Borenstein, upcoming). CLASSIX member and HomeBase Theater Collective co-founder. Training: Juilliard.
Jack DiFalco
Benjamin
Broadway credits include: The Ferryman, Marvin’s Room, Torch Song. Other theatre: Grief Camp (Atlantic), Inspired by True Events (Out of the Box Theatrics), Yen (MCC), Mercury Fur (The New Group), Let The Right One In (Berkeley Rep), Sing Street (Huntington), Lord of the Flies (Denver Center). Clive Barnes Foundation nominee for New Emerging Talent in Theatre. Film credits include: The Goldfinch, Paterno, One Percent More Humid, Bully, Silo, No Fear, Last Straw. Television credits include: “Daredevil,” “Chicago P.D.,” “FBI,” “Prodigal Son,” “Monsterland,” “Blue Bloods,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “The OA.” Upcoming: the film Empire City opposite Gerard Butler, and a special guest star role on “Best Medicine.”
Marjan Neshat
DC Elizabeth Hawkins/Lorraine
Marjan Neshat received a Tony Award nomination for her critically acclaimed performance in the Pulitzer Prize-winning English, for which she also received a Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut and a Drama League Award nomination.
Off-Broadway, Marjan won the Obie Award for her role in English and a Drama Desk Award for her starring roles in both Pulitzer finalist Selling Kabul and English in the same season. Film credits include leading roles in the multi-award-winning Rockaway; Almost in Love, and Cry Funny Happy (Sundance). TV: most recently recurred as ‘Azita’ on season two of the hit Netflix series “The Night Agent.”
Tom Riley
David Wright
Tom Riley can be seen in Apple TV’s “Down Cemetery Road,” opposite Ruth Wilson and Emma Thompson. Recent credits include William Friedkin’s “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial,” “The Nevers” for HBO, and Netflix’s limited series ”The Woman in the House” opposite Kristen Bell.
Previously, Tom starred in “Dark Heart” (ITV), “The Collection” (Amazon), “Monroe” (ITV), the limited series “Ill Behavior,” and for three seasons as Leonardo Da Vinci in David Goyer’s “Da Vinci’s Demons” (Starz).
Film credits include Extinction (Netflix) starring Lizzy Caplan; the ensemble comedy Ghost Light, the UK festival hit Starfish opposite Joanne Froggatt, Kill Your Friends with James Corden and Nicolas Hoult, and US festival hit Pushing Dead opposite James Roday Rodriguez.
Onstage appearances include Dancing at Lughnasa (National Theatre), Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia (Drama Desk nomination) on Broadway and Dry Powder (Hampstead Theatre) opposite Hayley Atwell.
Nina Ross
Nancy Khoury
Nina Ross (they/them) is a Brooklyn-based musician and actor. Broadway: To Kill A Mockingbird (Scout), The Iceman Cometh (Margie), The Hard Problem (Julia). Select Off-Broadway: Cold War Choir Practice (MCC), Shhhh (Atlantic Theater Company), Nina (Theaterlab), Winter’s Tale (The Public). Film/TV: Bad Monkey (Apple TV+), “Red Oaks” (Amazon Prime). Nina also doubles as a pop star known as Softee. @softeepopstar on all social media.
Hadi Tabbal
Rev. Karl Khoury
Hadi Tabbal originated the role of ‘Omid’ in the Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony-nominated play English on Broadway. Off-Broadway credits include Russian Troll Farm (Vineyard Theatre), The Vagrant Trilogy (The Public Theater) and English (Roundabout/Atlantic Theater Company, for which he won an Obie Award and was nominated for a Lucille Lortel (Best Ensemble). His regional credits include work at The Folger Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and the Humana Festival, among others. On television, Hadi starred as Amir Al-Raisani on NBC’s “The Brave” and will next be seen on “Powers: Origins” (Starz). Other TV credits include several guest appearances on major networks. Hadi holds an MFA in acting from The New School for Drama and is the recipient of the Fulbright Award.
Elizabeth Yeoman
Margaret Wright
Elizabeth is an English actress and a recent graduate of the Juilliard Drama Division. Theatre credits include And Then We Were No More (La MaMa), in which she made her off-Broadway debut, originating the role of Inmate in the world premiere by Tim Blake Nelson, directed by Mark Wing-Davey. She recently wrapped her feature film debut as the lead in the upcoming thriller Maze, directed by Tony Aloupis. Outside of acting, Elizabeth is an accomplished singer and pianist, and an experienced horseback rider. She is based in New York and London.
Lauren Ambrose
Miriam Wright
Jaspal Binning
PC Jay Shah/Anil Singh
Brittany Bradford
PC Angela Fisher/Mia Olsson
Jack DiFalco
Benjamin
Marjan Neshat
DC Elizabeth Hawkins/Lorraine
Tom Riley
David Wright
Nina Ross
Nancy Khoury
Hadi Tabbal
Rev. Karl Khoury
Elizabeth Yeoman
Margaret Wright
Ian Bedford
U/S David Wright, Reverend Karl Khoury
On Broadway: To Kill a Mockingbird, Ink. On stages around the country: Eddie in Ivo van Hove’s View from the Bridge (Goodman Theatre), Murder on the Orient Express (Hartford Stage), Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre), Oslo (Pioneer), Good Faith (Yale Rep), The Beaux Stratagem (Shakespeare Theatre, DC), and the title roles in Macbeth (Alabama Shakespeare), Richard III (LTSF), Henry V and Henry VIII (all at Pennsylvania Shakespeare). On screen: “Shameless,” “The Gilded Age,” “Chicago PD,” “Blue Bloods,” “The Good Fight,” “God Friended Me,” “The Path,” “Law & Order: SVU.” Ian was associate producer of the film The Promise, with Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac.
Polly Lee
U/S Miriam Wright, DC Elizabeth Hawkins/Lorraine
Polly Lee last worked with Knud Adams on A**hole by Justin Kuritzkes at Jack in Brooklyn. Other NY Theatre includes: New Georges, Clubbed Thumb, Lincoln Center, LCT3, EST, The New Group, etc. Recent regional: McCarter, Wilma Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, La Jolla Playhouse, ART, Yale Rep, Rep Theatre of St Louis, etc. TV/Film: “Succession”, “Law & Order”, “L&O: SVU”, “L&O: Organized Crime”, “The Americans” (3 seasons), “Younger” (2 seasons), “The Looming Tower”, “The Blacklist”, “Chicago Med”, “Gotham”, “Things Heard and Seen”, and “Give or Take”. Polly is an award-winning audiobook narrator on over 300 titles. She’s a proud member of the Actors Studio, SAG-AFTRA and AEA.
Omar Shafiuzzaman
U/S Benjamin, PC Jay Shah/Anil Singh
Omar Shafiuzzaman is thrilled that The Unbelievers is his Manhattan Theatre Club debut! His credits include Off-Broadway: Practice (Playwright’s Horizons); Elyria (Atlantic Theater Company). Regional: Henry V, Love’s Labor’s Lost (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival). Film/TV: “Law & Order” (NBC), “The Equalizer” (CBS), “CIA” (CBS). Omar has a BA in acting from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, England @omar.shafiuzzaman
India Shea
U/S Margaret Wright, Nancy Khoury, PC Angela Fisher/Mia Olsson
Off-Broadway debut. Select Credits include The Matchmaker, Comedy of Errors, and the Tempest (Hudson Valley Shakespeare), The Trojan Woman (Stop the Wind), As You Like It (Shakespeare on the Sound), Pride and Prejudice (The Hangar Theater). Workshops with Hudson Valley Shakespeare, The Tank, and Dixon Place. MFA Columbia University. Simply thrilled to be here. @indiasheaa
Ian Bedford
U/S David Wright, Reverend Karl Khoury
Polly Lee
U/S Miriam Wright, DC Elizabeth Hawkins/Lorraine
Omar Shafiuzzaman
U/S Benjamin, PC Jay Shah/Anil Singh
India Shea
U/S Margaret Wright, Nancy Khoury, PC Angela Fisher/Mia Olsson
Creative
Nick Payne
Playwright
Nick Payne (Playwright). Theatre: If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet (Bush Theatre and Roundabout Theatre Company, New York), Wanderlust (Royal Court Theatre), Sophocles’ Electra (Gate Theatre), One Day When We Were Young (Paines Plough/Sheffield Theatres and Shoreditch Town Hall), Lay Down Your Cross (Hampstead Theatre), Constellations (Royal Court Theatre, Duke of York’s and UK tour, and Manhattan Theatre Club, New York), The Same Deep Water As Me (Donmar Warehouse, nominated for 2014 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy), Blurred Lines (The Shed, National Theatre), Incognito (Nabokov/Live Theatre, Newcastle and Manhattan Theatre Club, New York), The Art of Dying (Royal Court Theatre), Elegy (Donmar Warehouse), A Life (Broadway and Public Theater, nominated for 2020 Tony Award for Best Play). Film: The Sense of an Ending (adaptation of Julian Barnes’ Man Booker Prize winning novel for BBC Films/Origin Pictures), We Live in Time (A24/Studio Canal), Midwinter Break (adaptation of Bernard MacLaverty’s novel for Focus Features). TV: “Wanderlust” (Drama Republic for BBC One/Netflix). Awards: 2009 George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright, 2012 Harold Pinter Playwright’s Award, 2012 London Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play for Constellations.
Knud Adams
Director
Knud Adams (Director) is a Tony-nominated director of artful new plays. His world-premiere productions include the consecutive Pulitzer-winners English by Sanaz Toossi and Primary Trust by Eboni Booth, and the recent Blackburn-winner Cold War Choir Practice by Ro Reddick. His acclaimed Broadway debut of English was hailed by Variety as “one of the best plays of the decade.” Additional world premieres include: Jiehae Park’s The Aves, Yilong Liu’s The Book of Mountains and Seas, Grace Gardner’s I’m Revolting, Angela Hank’s Bodies They Ritual, Christopher Chen’s The Headlands, Eboni Booth’s Paris, Torrey Townsend’s The Workshop, Justin Kuritzkes’ Asshole, and Celine Song’s Tom & Eliza. His work has been celebrated on “Best of the Year” lists by The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, and The Washington Post.
Paul Steinberg
Scenic Design
Paul Steinberg (Set Design). Broadway: M. Butterfly. West End: The Twilight Zone. Off-Broadway: Judgment Day (Park Ave Armory, Henry Hewes Award), The Antiquities (Playwrights Horizons). Opera: designs for major opera companies in the U.S., England, Germany, The Netherlands, France, Spain, Belgium, Japan, Russia, Norway, Denmark, Austria and more. Masked Ball, Falstaff, Der Rosenkavalier (Metropolitan Opera); Peter Grimes, Lulu (ENO); Il Trovatore (Bregenz Festival); Tamerlano, Harvey Milk (San Francisco Opera); Billy Budd (Bolshoi Opera, Golden Mask Award). Paul is an arts professor in the department of design for stage and film at Tisch/NYU. paulsteinbergdesign.com.
Enver Chakartash
Costume Design
Enver Chakartash (Costume Design) is a Drama Desk Award-winning, Tony and Olivier-nominated costume designer. West End: Stereophonic. Broadway: Stereophonic, English, Romeo + Juliet, A Doll’s House, Is This a Room. Off-Broadway: Good Time Charlie, The Receptionist, Antigone (This Play I Read in High School), Tartuffe, Meet the Cartozians, Ulysses, Data, The Least Problematic Woman in the World, Pre-Existing Condition, Becoming Eve, Teeth, Public Obscenities, I Love You So Much I Could Die, Toros, The Trees, Wolf Play, Catch as Catch Can, Straight White Men. Regional: Highway Patrol (Goodman Theatre). Film: Reality (Seaview/HBO).
Masha Tsimring
Lighting Design
Masha Tsimring (Lighting Design). Recent Off-Broadway: Animal Wisdom (Signature); There’s No Singing in the Navy, Rheology, Practice (Playwrights Horizons); Cold War Choir Practice (Clubbed Thumb/MCC/Page73); Coriolanus (TFANA); Friday Night Rat Catchers (New York Live Arts). Regional: the aves (Berkeley Rep), The Inspector (Yale Rep), Primary Trust (La Jolla Playhouse/CTG). Dance/opera: Mitridate (Opera Philadelphia); Rodelinda (Santa Fe Opera); Gems, Plenum/Anima (LA Dance Project); Giulio Cesare (Hudson Hall). MFA: Yale School of Drama. Masha is a proud member of USA829. More info at mashald.com.
Sinan Refik Zafar
Sound Design
Sinan Refik Zafar (Sound Design). Broadway: English, What the Constitution Means to Me. Off-Broadway: We Had a World (MTC); What to Send Up…, Wish You Were Here (Playwrights Horizons); English (Obie Award), Shhh (Atlantic); Letters From Max (Signature, Drama Desk/Lortel nom.); Which Way to the Stage, All the Natalie Portmans (MCC); Lunar Eclipse, To My Girls (Second Stage); The Vagrant Trilogy, Cullud Wattah (The Public). Regional: Kennedy Center, Guthrie, Mark Taper Forum, Berkeley Rep, Arena Stage, The Goodman, Denver Center, Williamstown, among others. MFA, Yale School of Drama. sinanzafar.com
Will Butler
Original Songs
Will Butler (Original Songs) is an award-winning musician and composer. He wrote the music for the hit play Stereophonic, for which he received two Tony nominations for Best Original Score and Best Orchestrations. As a member of the band Arcade Fire until 2022, he released era-defining records such as Funeral and The Suburbs, which won the 2011 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Along with Owen Pallett, he was nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Score for the Spike Jonze film Her. He has collaborated with a wide range of artists, including Emma Stone, Terry Gilliam, Greta Gerwig, choreographer Ryan Heffington and comedians Jo Firestone and Patti Harrison. He is currently working on theatre projects and releasing music with his band Will Butler and Sister Squares.
Cookie Jordan
Hair Design
Cookie Jordan (Hair Design). Broadway: The Skin of Our Teeth, Camelot, The Piano Lesson, Into the Woods, Trouble in Mind, Clyde’s, POTUS, Slave Play, Choir Boy, The Cher Show, Once on This Island, Sunday in the Park with George, In Transit, Eclipsed, Side Show, After Midnight, Fela!, A View From the Bridge, South Pacific. Television: Emmy nominated for makeup design for NBC’s “The Wiz Live!” Recipient of 2019 and 2020 Obie Awards.
Deborah Hecht
Dialect and Vocal Coach
Deborah Hecht (Dialect & Vocal Coach). Broadway: over 100 productions including MTC’s The Balusters, Saint Joan, Venus in Fur, How I Learned to Drive and Shining City; Ragtime; The Great Gatsby; The Ferryman; and the recent and original productions of Angels in America. More on ibdb.com. Off-Broadway: LCT, Signature, NYTW, MCC, Playwrights Horizons, many others. Regional: upcoming Hamlet at Playmakers, Williamstown, Seattle Rep, others. England: RSC, Royal National. Film/TV: “We Were the Lucky Ones,” “Tokyo Vice,” “Fosse/Vernon,” All the Money in the World, Under the Skin, others.
Caparelliotis Casting & Kelly Gillespie
Casting
Caparelliotis Casting (Casting). Select MTC: The Balusters, Punch, Eureka Day, Mary Jane, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Cost of Living. Upcoming Broadway/Off-Broadway: Three Days of Rain, The Goat, 2:22 a Ghost Story. Additional theatre: Signature (NYC), ArsNova, The Old Globe season casting, Donmar Warehouse (consulting U.S. casting director). TV: “New Amsterdam” (NBC, series casting), “The Boys in the Band” (Netflix, original casting).
Sara Sahin
Production Stage Manager
Sara Sahin (Production Stage Manager) is thrilled to be working at MTC! She recently worked with Knud Adams on English at the Wallis in Beverly Hills, after the Broadway and Off-Broadway productions. Sara spent two years as the PSM of Little Shop…Off-Broadway, and has worked on and off Broadway and at various regional and international theatres. She directed and co-produced with writer Greg Turner five of his original plays, and wrote and directed her short film Dockweiler.
Nick Payne
Playwright
Knud Adams
Director
Paul Steinberg
Scenic Design
Enver Chakartash
Costume Design
Masha Tsimring
Lighting Design
Sinan Refik Zafar
Sound Design
Will Butler
Original Songs
Cookie Jordan
Hair Design
Deborah Hecht
Dialect and Vocal Coach
Caparelliotis Casting & Kelly Gillespie
Casting
Sara Sahin
Production Stage Manager