From the pen of Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar, McNeal arrives in Charleston on a wave of national attention from its Broadway debut last fall. The play has already sparked - and sometimes inflamed - conversations in the cultural press, most notably for its razor-sharp depiction of an artist at war with the world and himself. Critics have called it “brilliant,” “electrifying,” and “transfixing,” praising its excavation of American ambition and moral ambiguity. The production, directed by PURE Artistic Director, Sharon Graci, runs January 15 - February 7 at the Cannon Street Arts Center.
At its center is Jacob McNeal: literary lion, Nobel Prize perennial, and a man whose brilliance is matched only by the size of his blind spots. A new novel looms. An estranged son resurfaces. Old enemies circle. And McNeal - equal parts provocateur, perfectionist, and self-mythologizer - finds himself captivated, and even seduced, by the generative power of artificial intelligence. As the lines between creation and replication blur, McNeal faces a crisis both artistic and existential: What happens when the storytelling machine becomes capable of telling your story better than you can?
“Akhtar has written a play that feels like it was ripped from tomorrow’s headlines,” says Director Sharon Graci. “It’s fierce, unsettling, and wickedly smart. McNeal asks us to examine the stories we claim, the truths we distort, and the legacies we build - sometimes at any cost.”
The production features David Whalen as the titular McNeal. He is accompanied by Core Ensemble members Camille Lowman and Joy Vandervort-Cobb as well as Sylvia Jefferies (last seen in Eureka Day) and Journey Townsend, making her PURE debut.
Tickets for McNeal range from $47 to $53. Pay-What-You-Will Performances will take place on January 15 and 21, with tickets available for online purchase one week before the show’s opening. Student tickets are available for $15 for every performance. McNeal is also available through the Season 23 Flex Pass, now available in 3- and 5-tickets, giving members flexible tickets and a host of other perks. Tickets and Flex Passes are available now at puretheatre.org.
Additional information about McNeal can be found on PURE’s website or by calling the box office at 843.723.4444 (Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm).