Kerry Washington, Steven Pasquale Set Broadway Return in 'American Son'

Tony winner Kenny Leon will direct the drama by Christopher Demos-Brown, about estranged parents who converge on a Florida police station searching for their missing teenage son.

Kerry Washington has locked in her first major role since Scandal. She will star opposite Steven Pasquale on Broadway this fall, headlining Christopher Demos-Brown's intense four-character drama American Son, about parents dealing with their worst fears while caught up in our national racial divide.

Commissioned by Barrington Stage Company in the Berkshires, where it world-premiered to strong reviews in 2016, the play unfolds in a Florida police station where a desperate African-American mother shows up in the middle of the night, searching for her missing 18-year-old biracial son. She is followed by her estranged husband, a white FBI agent whose law enforcement credentials fail to impress the Miami-Dade County cops.

"Christopher Demos-Brown has written a play that dives deep into the big questions of who we are as a nation, by exploring the intimate relationships within a family caught at the crossroads of love, loss, identity and community," said Washington in a statement. "After reading the script I was immediately enthralled by the world of the play and the gripping circumstances that these characters are facing."

Kenny Leon, a 2014 Tony winner for the revival of A Raisin in the Sun that starred Denzel Washington, will direct the production, which also features distinguished veteran actor Eugene Lee as a tough black police lieutenant. Lee previously worked with Leon on Broadway in the 2004 premiere of August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean. Casting of the remaining role in American Son, a young white officer on night desk duty, is to be announced.

Marking the Broadway debut of emerging playwright Demos-Brown, the limited engagement begins previews Oct. 6 at the Booth Theatre, with opening night set for Nov. 4. Lead producer is Jeffrey Richards, who also has The Lifespan of a Fact, starring Daniel Radcliffe, Cherry Jones and Bobby Cannavale, opening in the fall.

Kerry Washington made her Broadway debut in 2009 in David Mamet's Race, starring opposite James Spader, David Alan Grier and Richard Thomas. She returns to the New York stage after seven seasons as Olivia Pope on ABC's hit Shonda Rhimes series Scandal. Washington is scheduled to appear as a presenter on the Tony Awards this Sunday.

Pasquale has appeared on Broadway in Neil LaBute's Reasons to Be Pretty, the Jason Robert Brown musical The Bridges of Madison County and Ayad Akhtar's finance drama Junk, a Tony nominee this year for best play. Pasquale's TV credits include Rescue Me and The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.