Downstate (play)

Downstate is a 2018 tragicomedy play by Bruce Norris about a group house for sex offenders. It premiered at Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago and has received acclaim from critics and criticism from conservatives who have accused it of promoting pedophilia.

Characters

• Fred, a genial former piano teacher who raped two of his students
• Andy, one of Fred's former students, now a well-off adult
• Em, Andy's assertive wife
• Dee, a charismatic former performer who had a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old boy
• Ivy, the offenders' probation officer
• Felix, a shy Hispanic man who molested his preteen daughter
• Gio, a smarmy 30-something who committed statutory rape
• Effie, Gio's girlfriend

Synopsis

Four men who have been convicted of sex offenses and completed their prison sentences but remain on the sex offender registry live in a group home in downstate Illinois in the present. One, Fred, is visited by his former piano student Andy and his wife, Em, who confront him about the harm Fred did to him. Fred comes off as apologetic, and the couple departs, but Andy leaves behind his phone.

The men learn from their probation officer, Ivy, that a no-go zone around a school has been expanded, threatening their access to a supermarket.

Ivy confronts Felix about a visit he made to a library, where he used a computer to look up his daughter on Facebook, violating the terms of his release.

Andy returns alone to pick up his phone. He learns that Fred uses a wheelchair because he was attacked by a vigilante. He asks Fred to sign a confession; Fred declines, saying his memory of events differs. The other housemates provoke Andy, who gets into a physical altercation with them. Felix is revealed to have hung himself in his room.

Productions

Set of the Studio Theatre production

The play was written by Bruce Norris (who previously won a Pulitzer Prize for Clybourne Park) and co-commissioned by Steppenwolf and the National Theatre. Steppenwolf had to hire additional security for its run after it received threats.^[1]

• Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago, 2018^[2]
• Royal National Theatre, London, 2019^[3]
• Playwright Horizons, New York City, 2022^[4]
• Studio Theatre, Washington, D.C., 2025^[5][6]

Reception

The play has received near-universal acclaim from critics.^[7] Jesse Green designated the 2018 production a critic's pick for The New York Times. He wrote: "Downstate is finally about the anarchic spirit of revenge, so understandable and yet so antithetical to justice. Mr. Norris is warning us to consider what may follow in the wake of even a healthy purging if the avengers are just as abusive as the abusers. It’s a lot to stomach, and rightly so."^[2]

Michael Billington rated the 2019 production four out of five stars for The Guardian, praising the "visceral power to the performances". However, he criticized the character of Andy as overwritten.^[3]

Laura Collins-Hughes designated the 2022 production a Times critic's pick, writing, "This deep, dark tragicomedy pokes and prods at our compassion, checks the pulse on our sense of justice, taps our reflex response to charm."^[4] Peter Marks described it, writing for The Washington Post, as "a stunning demonstration of the power of narrative art to tackle a taboo".^[8]

Conservative Twitter users criticized the play and Marks' review.^[7][1] Ted Cruz (who is not known to have seen the play^[5]) tweeted, "So now the corporate media is praising pedophilia".^[7] Playbill characterized the criticism as part of a conservative panic about pedophilia as a facet of its opposition to LGBTQ rights.^[7]

In 2023, Downstate won the New York Drama Critics' Circle award for best play.^[9]

Covering the 2025 production for the Post, Naveen Kumar wrote, "it’s tempting to say Norris goes too far in trying to humanize characters who have done despicable things, and I wouldn’t blame anyone for saying so. But what he achieves here is more sophisticated than that, tugging at the threads of our moral convictions until they’re all tangled up at our feet."^[5]