Manhattan Theatre Club has canceled tonight’s performance of Bug, the final preview before its scheduled opening on Thursday, January 8, due to an illness in the company.
A representative for the production confirmed the cancellation, as well as the decision to halt the second act of Wednesday afternoon’s matinee at intermission.
Audience members were informed that the performance would not continue due to “unforeseen circumstances.” Refunds are expected. No details were released regarding who was taken ill.
As of Wednesday evening, opening night remains scheduled as planned.
Written by Tracy Letts and directed by Tony Award winner David Cromer, Bug is currently in previews at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre under the banner of Manhattan Theatre Club. The production officially opens January 8, 2026.
The Broadway cast includes Carrie Coon as Agnes White, Namir Smallwood as Peter Evans, with Randall Arney as Dr. Sweet, Jennifer Engstrom as R.C., and Steve Key as Jerry Goss.
This production marks the Broadway premiere of Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s acclaimed staging of Bug, a psychological thriller centered on an intense and increasingly unstable relationship between a lonely waitress and a mysterious drifter in a seedy Oklahoma motel room. What begins as a fragile connection escalates into paranoia, delusion, and conspiracy as reality begins to fracture.
The play was first produced in 1996 and later adapted into a 2006 film directed by William Friedkin, starring Michael Shannon, who is expected to attend the Broadway opening night.
