Deadline
Lauren Ambrose & Tom Riley To Lead Nick Payne’s The Unbelievers Off Broadway
The Unbelievers
by Nick Payne
directed by Knud Adams
with Lauren Ambrose, Tom Riley & additional cast members to be announced
OFF-BROADWAY AT
New York City Center Stage I
Performances begin October 13, 2026
Single tickets will be available later this year. The only way to secure your seat today is to become an MTC Subscriber or Patron.
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.
Cast
Lauren Ambrose
Miriam
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 Theatre 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 in Romeo and Juliet as 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.”
Tom Riley
David
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 the 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.
Lauren Ambrose
Miriam
Tom Riley
David
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.
Nick Payne
Playwright
Knud Adams
Director