Adrien Brody and Tessa Thompson Star in Broadway's 'The Fear of 13,' Lindsey Ferrentino's Searing Death Row Drama

A Story That Wouldn't Let Go

Playwright Lindsey Ferrentino has brought "The Fear of 13" to Broadway's James Earl Jones Theater for a limited run, adapting her critically acclaimed London production into a more expansive theatrical experience. The play dramatizes the true story of Nick Yarris, who spent 21 years on death row in Pennsylvania for a murder he did not commit. Adrien Brody originated the role in London's sold-out run at the Donmar Warehouse, where the production earned two Olivier Award nominations including best new play and best actor. For Broadway, the production has undergone significant changes: a new director (David Cromer), an expanded cast of actors portraying prison guards, inmates, and other characters, and actress Tessa Thompson taking on the role of Jacki, a death-row volunteer who falls in love with Yarris.

"The Fear of 13," about a man who spent two decades on death row for a murder he didn't commit, is a story that the playwright says she "couldn't shake."

Ferrentino witnessed a remarkable moment when she brought Yarris himself to a preview performance in London in autumn 2024. As the play unfolded onstage, the now-64-year-old Yarris reacted audibly throughout, eventually drawing the concern of a nearby audience member asking him to quiet down. When a post-curtain video revealed that the emotional viewer was actually Yarris, the subject of the play, the response was profound. "Everyone nearby just sort of reached out and put their hands on him," Ferrentino recalled. "No one had words — what do you say? — but they were all silently trying to hug him or put their hands on his back." For Ferrentino, it represented something transcendent: "It was the greatest moment I've ever had in the theater."

Ferrentino's Return to Her Signature Form

This Broadway production marks a significant moment in Ferrentino's career trajectory. She is simultaneously navigating both critical acclaim and commercial disappointment on the Great White Way. Earlier this season, she wrote the book for "The Queen of Versailles," a musical adaptation of Lauren Greenfield's 2012 documentary about a couple's aspirational quest to build a palatial home. The production, which featured music by Stephen Schwartz ("Wicked") and starred Kristin Chenoweth and F. Murray Abraham, failed to connect with audiences and closed in December far earlier than producers anticipated, running only 49 regular performances after 32 previews.

"It's great, as a playwright, not to be pigeonholed," Ferrentino said of her musical venture.

However, "The Fear of 13" represents a return to the dramaturgical territory where Ferrentino has built her reputation and demonstrated her distinctive voice. Her previous plays—"Ugly Lies the Bone" and "Amy and the Orphans"—earned her recognition for what New York Times critic Ben Brantley described as her "muscular empathy which seeks to enter the minds of people for whom life is often a struggle of heroic proportions." These works share a common DNA with "The Fear of 13": they take political or social issues and humanize them through intimate character study, transforming abstract national narratives into deeply personal stories.

Ferrentino has framed her detour into musical theater not as a departure from her core identity but as a necessary exploration. "This is the type of play that I like to write, where I take political issues and humanize them to reflect a bigger national narrative," she explained, suggesting that her musical experiment, while commercially unsuccessful, served a creative purpose. The critical and audience response to "The Fear of 13" will test whether Ferrentino's particular brand of empathetic political drama resonates on Broadway, or whether her strength lies primarily in the intimate, character-driven territory of contemporary plays.