Tony nominee Michael Stuhlbarg (The Pillowman, Call Me By Your Name) will star in the title role of Tim Blake Nelson's Socrates. The world premiere production will begin with a free first preview April 2, 2019, at the Public Theater.

Directed by Tony Award winner Doug Hughes, the staging will officially open April 16 and continue through May 19 in the Martinson Theater.

The cast will also include Dave Quay as Diokles and Meletus, Austin Smith as Alcibiades, and Andrew Weems as Proxenus, Gorgias, and Aristophanes. Additional casting will be announced at a later date.

“Given its physical, emotional, and technical demands, this role might have been next to impossible to cast,” said Nelson. “Luckily, I've known Michael since drama school, and was able to bring him in to read the part in my living room when the play was only a first draft. He's the only actor I envisioned to play this complex character, and I’m ecstatic he will now bring his nearly unparalleled talents to Doug's and The Public's production of the play leading this exquisite cast.”

The play follows the philosopher through democratic Athens to the military and social upheavals that led to one of the most infamous executions in Western history.