Tom Hanks has co-written, and is set to star in, a new Off-Broadway play about time travel and love. The sci-fi romance This World of Tomorrow will premiere at The Shed theatre in New York City this October.
The play follows a lonely scientist in search of love who travels from the future to the 1939 World’s Fair in Queens.
It was co-written alongside James Glossman who Hanks previously wrote the 2022 Off-Broadway play Safe Home. The play was based on stories from Hanks’s 2017 short story collection Uncommon Type – though he did not star in that particular production.
The two-time Oscar winner, best-loved for his roles as Toy Story’s Woody and Forrest Gump will perform alongside a cast of 10 to 12, sometimes multi-roling, actors.
Set in the 550-seat Shed Theatre at the Arts Centre on Manhattan’s West Side, this fantastical play will run for eight weeks from 20 October to 21 December 2025.
This marks Hanks’s first on-stage appearance since his role as Falstaff in Shakespeare’s Henry IV back in 2018.
In 2013 he made his Broadway debut where he was Tony Nominated for his role in the newsroom drama Lucky Guy.
Prior to this big break on the silver screen, he starred in multiple performances in the Lakewood Civic Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio, where his acting career began.
Describing his latest stage venture, Hanks said in a statement: “To explore the themes of love and yearning, and the struggles of Today as we carry with us the eternal memories of the Past, in such a place as The Shed, strikes me as a one-of-a-kind experience not unlike the World’s Fair of 1939.”
The play is being directed by Kenny Leon, who won a Tony Award for his 2014 Broadway revival of A Raisin in the Sun.
Leon, said: “This story explores a fascinating tale of the echoes of past generations, the often-surprising collisions between them, and what is carried forward with an authentic humour I can’t wait to bring to life in the Griffin Theater.”
The artistic director of The Shed, Alex Poots, told the New York Times that when Hanks’ team reached out last year about the project he didn’t hesitate.
Describing the actor as “one of the most beloved and trust storytellers of our time”, Poots surmised the show as a “classic love story” which also nods to the global tensions of 1939 – the first year of WWII.
Tickets for the show will go on sale on 24 July, and 15 July for Shed members.
