Robert Downey Jr. to Make His Broadway Debut This Fall: 'Hopefully I'll Knock the Dust Off Quick'

It's a "timely and important story about the future of creatives, and I intend to do it justice," said the Oscar winner

Robert Downey Jr. is headed to the stage.

The Oppenheimer actor, who won an Oscar in March, is set to make his Broadway debut this fall in a new play called McNeal written by Pulitzer Prize–winner Ayad Akhtar and directed by Bartlett Sher.

Lincoln Center Theater will produce McNeal, which will begin previews on Sept. 5, and later open Sept. 30, at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in New York City. It will have a strictly limited engagement through Nov. 24.

Sharing the news on Instagram May 7, Downey, 59, wrote, "I am making my Broadway debut in the new play MCNEAL at Lincoln Center Theater! I knew I wanted to do Ayad’s new play before I was done reading it, then hearing Bart would be directing
at the Beaumont theater sealed the deal."

Related: Robert Downey Jr. Says He Would 'Happily' Play Iron Man Again in the MCU: 'That Role Chose Me'

"It’s been 40 years since I was last on 'the boards,' but hopefully I’ll knock the dust off quick," he added. "MCNEAL is a timely and important story about the future of creatives, and I intend to do it justice."

According to a synopsis, Downey will star as Jacob McNeal, who is "one of our greatest" writers and a "perpetual candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature."

"But," the synospsis adds, "McNeal also has an estranged son, a new novel, old axes to grind and an unhealthy fascination with artificial intelligence."

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A press release describes the play as a "startling and wickedly smart examination of the inescapable humanity — and increasing inhumanity — of the stories we tell."

Downey currently stars on the HBO series The Sympathizer in multiple roles. Back in March, the star told PEOPLE he had no plans of slowing down after his first Oscar win. “I got a couple other tricks up my sleeve,” he teased at the time.

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