LINCOLN CENTER THEATER TO HONOR ROBERT DOWNEY JR. AND SUSAN DOWNEY AT ANNUAL SPRING GALA
Press Contacts:
Rick Miramontez / Marie Bshara / Kendall Edwards / Morgan Zysman / Bailey Everett
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212 695 7400
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE
LINCOLN CENTER THEATER
TO HONOR
ACADEMY AWARD® WINNER
ROBERT DOWNEY JR.
AND
EMMY® AWARD-WINNING PRODUCER
SUSAN DOWNEY
AT ANNUAL SPRING GALA
WITH STAGED CONCERT PERFORMANCE OF
“MAN OF LA MANCHA”
STARRING ACCLAIMED TENOR ROLANDO VILLAZÓN
ON MONDAY, MAY 18, 2026
AT THE VIVIAN BEAUMONT THEATER
New York, NY (March 6, 2026) – Lincoln Center Theater proudly announced today that they will honor Academy Award® winner Robert Downey Jr. and Emmy® Award-winning Producer Susan Downey at their annual spring Gala on Monday, May 18 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, currently home to the mega-hit Ragtime. As previously announced, the evening will feature a concert presentation of Man of La Mancha starring internationally acclaimed tenor Rolando Villazón as “Cervantes / Don Quxiote.” The one-night-only event will be directed by LCT Executive Producer and Tony Award® winner Bartlett Sher and will include a post-performance dinner with LCT Artists at the David H. Koch Theater.
Mr. Downey was last seen on stage for the first time in almost 30 years in the brand-new play McNeal by Ayad Akhtar and directed by Mr. Sher, which premiered at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in the fall of 2024 to critical acclaim. This production also marked Team Downey’s Broadway debut.
“Thank you to Bart, Lear, and the entire Lincoln Center Theater team for this great honor. We look forward to being back at the Vivian Beaumont in May, reuniting with the incredible theater community that embraced us wholeheartedly. Our McNeal experience was a creative journey that continues to inspire us long after the run,” said the Downeys.
Lear deBessonet, the Kewsong Lee Artistic Director of Lincoln Center Theater said, “It is a true privilege to honor Robert and Susan Downey at this year’s Lincoln Center Theater Spring Gala. When artists of their caliber and influence choose to invest their time, talents, and hearts in the theater, it strengthens and benefits the entire community. Together, the Downeys embody a rare combination of excellence and service. Their commitment to both storytelling and philanthropy speak to who they are at their core. We are honored to celebrate them and the extraordinary impact they continue to have on our field and beyond.”
Mr. Sher shared, “Bringing Robert back to the stage in McNeal after almost three decades was an important moment for him and for us at LCT. It was meaningful to watch one of our great actors return to the immediacy and rigor of live performance. The generosity of spirit he brought to LCT – on stage and off – went beyond celebrity. It was a privilege to witness what that experience unlocked in him at this moment in his magnificent career. Susan was equally essential to the life of McNeal. She was in the rehearsal room every day as an incredibly generous collaborator. Her instincts are formidable, and her creative input left a lasting imprint on the production. Honoring them both is not only about celebrating their artistic accomplishments, but the example they set for giving back and for turning their artistry in the profound direction of change.”
This year’s Gala co-chairs are C. Graham Berwind III and Eleni Giaunilis-Vermeer – Creative Partners Productions; Zita J. Ezpeleta and Kewsong Lee; Sandra and Howard Hoffen; Brooke Garber Neidich and Daniel Neidich; and Laura Speyer and Josef Goodman.
For photos of the honorees, please click here. Credit: Davis Factor
Tables and gala-entry tickets are now on sale. Show-only tickets will be available later this spring. For more information, please visit lct.org/shows/ManOfLaManchaGala
Maria Manuela Goyanes, the Artistic Director of LCT3, will serve as the producer of the gala. Casting is by The Telsey Office, Patrick Goodwin, CSA.
Man of La Mancha is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals.
Additional casting for the evening will be announced at a later date.
BIOGRAPHIES
TEAM DOWNEY is an entertainment company founded by Susan Downey and Robert Downey Jr. that produces film, television, and digital properties.
On the film side, Team Downey recently produced the crime thriller Play Dirty for Amazon/MGM Studios starring Mark Wahlberg, LaKeith Stanfield and Tony Shalhoub, which released to #1 on Prime Video the week of premiere. The film then remained in the Top 10 for more than six (6) weeks after its release and also topped Nielsen’s movie streaming chart during its debut week with 788 million minutes viewed. Up next, Team Downey is producing Lionsgate’s horror feature adaptation of Paul Tremblay’s Bram Stoker Award-winning novel A HEAD FULL OF GHOSTS with acclaimed filmmaking duo Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala writing and directing; Paramount Pictures’ remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 psychological thriller VERTIGO; and the Universal Studio film THE HIDER, based on Julianna Baggott’s short story.
On the television side, Team Downey is currently producing and in development on “Weather Girl” for Netflix with A24, based on Brian Watkins’ one-actor play of the same name, which sold out at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Julie McDermott will reprise the leading role she performed on stage. Team Downey premiered its Emmy-nominated HBO/A24 limited series “The Sympathizer” under the direction of Park Chan-wook. The series adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel featured Downey Jr. portraying five supporting characters, earning him Emmy and Critics’ Choice nominations for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series, and a win for the 29th Satellite Awards in the Best Limited Series category. The company produced the Emmy Award-winning Netflix genre series “Sweet Tooth”, which is currently up for 14 Children and Family Emmy Awards for its final third season, and produced two seasons of HBO’s Emmy-nominated series “Perry Mason”.
Team Downey made its Broadway debut with Downey producing Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar’s McNeal at Lincoln Center Theater. Directed by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher and starring Robert Downey Jr., McNeal grossed close to $1M in its first week of sold-out previews and went on to bring in seven-figure box office numbers nearly every week of its run. McNeal and Robert Downey Jr. have earned nominations for the “2025 iHeart Radio Music Awards” in the “Favorite Broadway Debut” category, and “91st Annual Drama League Awards” in the “Distinguished Performance” category.
In 2022, Team Downey released the critically acclaimed Netflix documentary SR., a lovingly irreverent portrait of the life and career of maverick filmmaker Downey Sr., which secured the 2022 National Board of Review’s “Best Documentary” Award. The company also produced Max’s Emmy and Environmental Award-winning series “Downey’s Dream Cars,” Discovery+’s unscripted series “The Bond,” and the award-winning podcast series “The Sunshine Place”, which premiered its second season and received a nomination for the 29th Annual Webby Awards for Best Documentary Podcast.
ABOUT LINCOLN CENTER THEATER
LCT’s mission is to bring exceptional theater to life. Building on a legacy of artistic excellence, LCT strives to expand what is possible: to make the magic of theatre more palpable, empowering visionary artists and extending the invitation for the community to join in celebrating the power of live performance. To see that mission to fruition in a new era at the New York institution, commencing with the current 2025-2026 season, Lear deBessonet assumed the role of Kewsong Lee Artistic Director, alongside Managing Director Mike Schleifer, Executive Producer Barlett Sher, Stacey and Eric Mindich Producer Nicole Kastrinos, Executive Director of Development and Planning Naomi Grabel, and LCT3 Artistic Director and Producer Maria Manuela Goyanes.
Following the season launch on July 30, 2025 with the free Silent Disco Listening Party of the Warriors concept album by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis, deBessonet opened her inaugural season at the Vivian Beaumont Theater with a new production of her celebrated New York City Center Gala revival of Ragtime, the American premiere of the 2025 Olivier Award-nominated play Kyoto and the family opera Amahl and the Night Visitors at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, and The Comedy Series with LCT3 at the Claire Tow Theater, and most recently An Evening with Kelli O’Hara in January at the Vivian Beaumont Theater. The season also includes upcoming productions of The Whoopi Monologues at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater; Night Side Songs, A Woman Among Women and The Reading Series with LCT3 at the Claire Tow Theater; as well one special gala concert presentation of Man of La Mancha at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.
Founded in 1985 by Board Chair Hon. John V. Lindsay, Executive Producer Bernie Gersten and Director Gregory Mosher, and led for 33 years by André Bishop, LCT is one of the leading nonprofit theaters in the country, producing an annual season of plays and musicals that have been seen by millions around the globe. It is one of 11 autonomous constituents of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Each year, the three theaters that make up LCT welcome nearly 300,000 audience members to its home on the Lincoln Center campus.
Over the last 40 years, LCT and its outstanding productions have received many of the highest accolades, including 87 Tony Awards, 97 Drama Desk Awards, 79 Outer Critics Cricle Awards, 33 Obies, 11 NY Drama Critics Circle Awards, and one Pulitzer Prize, as well as two finalists.
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