Sean Hayes Explains What THE UNKNOWN Is All About

Sean Hayes is back onstage this season in The Unknown, presented by Studio Seaview. The new one-man play is written by acclaimed and award-winning playwright David Cale and directed by Tony Award nominee Leigh Silverman. What’s it all about? 

The Unknown is a gripping new play about a writer on the edge. Desperate to cure his writer’s block, Elliott retreats to a remote cabin—only to discover he may not be alone. As the boundaries between his work and his life collapse, Elliott begins to question everything he knows. Is he writing a thriller? Living one? Both? The Unknown is a provocative thriller that explores the fine line between fascination and obsession.

“You know what’s great about the show? It’s a left turn for me in a sense that I’ve never done anything like this and I’m lucky to be given the opportunity to show people something that they’ve never seen me do,” Hayes told BroadwayWorld’s Emily Grace Tucker. “But there’s a lot of levity in the show which is needed, because the subject matter is very heavy at times.”

“I have to say, David [Cale] is such an extraordinary performer of many plays, but particularly his own plays,” added Silverman, “David is just the absolute gold standard of solo performance. And I so appreciate in this moment being able to take work that he’s written, that he’s not performing, and collaborate with him to bring it to a different actor… who I think is such an amazing representation of David and brings so much of the quality that David has for his writing to the stage.”