Photos: Step Inside Opening Night of The Fear of 13 on Broadway

The play stars two-time Oscar winner Adrien Brody opposite recent Golden Globe nominee Tessa Thompson.

April 16, 2026 By Margaret Hall

Adrien Brody and Tessa Thompson (Jalen Gregory)

Lindsey Ferrentino's The Fear of 13 officially opened on Broadway April 15 after beginning previews March 19. Opening festivities were a joyous celebration—and our cameras were on the scene!

Playing the James Earl Jones Theatre and directed by David Cromer, the production stars two-time Oscar winner Adrien Brody (The Brutalist) and recent Golden Globe nominee Tessa Thompson (Hedda), both making their Broadway debuts leading the cast.

Based on a documentary film by David Sington, the work tracks real-world figure Nick Yarris, a man convicted of murder who then petitions the court not for an appeal, but for an execution date. Yarris was on hand for the opening night celebration, with both Brody and Thompson throwing flowers to him from the stage.

Check out photos from the opening night red carpet below!

Brody and Thompson are joined on Broadway by Ephraim Sykes (Ain't Too Proud), Michael Cavinder (Annie), Eddie Cooper (Dead Outlaw), Victor Cruz (Blue Bloods), Eboni Flowers (Eureka Day), Joel Marsh Garland (Orange is the New Black), Jared Wayne Gladly (Aladdin), Joe Joseph (English), Jeb Kreager (Mare of Easttown), and Ben Thompson (Waitress).

The Broadway bow partners with the Innocence Project, supporting its work to free the innocent and prevent wrongful convictions. One of Yarris' real attorneys, Christina Swarns, is currently the group's executive director.

Ferrentino's past work includes Ugly Lies the Bone, Amy and the Orphans, This Flat Earth, and The Year to Come. On screen, she wrote 2019's Not Fade Away. Ferrentino has also served as the book writer to the musicals The Artist and The Queen of Versailles, the latter of which made a short-lived Broadway bow earlier this season.