Carrie Coon to star in Broadway premiere of Bug, a tense marriage of love and danger from Tracy Letts
Carrie Coon will lead the Broadway premiere of Bug this winter, a play written by her husband, Tracy Letts. The production, directed by David Cromer (The Band’s Visit), begins performances December 17 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, with opening night set for January 8.
Bug transfers to Broadway from a Steppenwolf incarnation that began in 2020 and resumed in late 2021 after pandemic delays. The work was first staged in London about 30 years ago and has since seen multiple iterations, including an Off-Broadway production in 2004 and a 2007 film adaptation starring Michael Shannon in both the movie and the earlier stage version.
In addition to Coon and Namir Smallwood, the Broadway cast includes Randall Arney, Jennifer Engstrom, and Steve Key, all of whom appeared in the Steppenwolf production.
A description from the show reads: “What begins as a simple connection between two broken people in a seedy Oklahoma motel room twists into something far more dangerous. When reality slips out of grasp, paranoia, delusion, and conspiracy take over in this sexy psychological thriller.”
Coon is returning to Broadway after television and period-piece work in The White Lotus and The Gilded Age. She previously appeared on Broadway in a 2012 revival of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which also starred Letts, and earned a Tony nomination for her performance.
Letts has had several plays on Broadway as well, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning August: Osage County, Superior Donuts, and The Minutes.
“I love this production of Bug. It’s scary and funny and intimate, and it features five great stage actors working at the peak of their powers, under the direction of my long-time collaborator David Cromer,” Letts said. “But what I love most about it is just how involving it is. When an audience is pulled into a story—when they lose themselves in it—it’s a kind of sorcery. And it only happens in live theatre.”
Additional value and context:
– Bug is known as a compact, high-tension psychological thriller that has transitioned successfully from stage to screen, with a history of intimate, performance-driven storytelling.
– The pairing of Coon and Cromer, together with a seasoned Broadway/Steppenwolf ensemble, sets up a tightly wound theatrical experience that leans into Letts’s signature dialogue and unsettling atmosphere.
– This Broadway transfer highlights the continuing collaboration between Letts and Cromer, two longtime forces in American theatre, and adds another intense, intimate title to the current Broadway season.
Summary: Carrie Coon headlines a Broadway transfer of Bug, a dark, psychological thriller from Tracy Letts, directed by David Cromer, with a strong ensemble and a return to the intimate, high-stakes storytelling that fans of Steppenwolf and Letts have come to expect. The production promises a provocative, edge-of-seat experience for theatergoers. Positive, hopeful note: the show’s intimate scale and powerful performances underscore why live theatre remains a compelling, immersive art form.