TDF Stages

The Tony nominee and TDF Wendy Wasserstein Project mentor returns to Broadway after a two-decade hiatus in a buzzy psychological thriller

Raves on TikTok may have helped catapult the play Job from downtown cult favorite to Broadway hit at the Hayes Theater, but you won't find star Peter Friedman on the app—or any social media for that matter. "During the first production at Soho Playhouse, the producers did little films of us, you know, me looking at my lines at a neighborhood café before going to rehearsal, stuff like that," he says. "They put that somewhere on some social media—I have no idea. I don't even know where to look for it!"

Friedman prefers interacting with others in real life, just like his Job character Loyd, a hippie crisis therapist with a penchant for crafting and a seeming disdain for the online world embraced by twentysomething Jane (Sydney Lemmon), a whip-smart but unstable big tech content moderator who's desperate to be reinstated at work after a viral meltdown. Her future rests in Loyd's hands—so perhaps it's not in her best interests that she's holding him at gunpoint when the taut two-hander begins. For the next 80 minutes, they engage in a lightning back-and-forth about trauma, morality, purpose and fulfillment in the digital age until a revelation reframes everything that came before. Or does it? This psychological thriller keeps you guessing and arguing long after it ends, that's why it's so compelling.

Friedman was immediately hooked on Job when he read Max Wolf Friedlich's script, which was recommended to him by his daughter Sadie, who knew one of the producers from Hebrew school. After playing Frank Vernon on Succession for four seasons, the character actor was eager to return to the stage, where he's tackled a stunning array of roles over the years, including Tateh, a Jewish immigrant from Latvia in Ragtime on Broadway, which earned him a Tony nomination. But he wanted to make sure Job would work before he signed on.

"They let us have a reading and then we talked about it," Friedman explains. "Max and the director, Michael Herwitz, addressed my concerns. I was wondering, how will this maintain its tension all the way through? But the show delivers."

Friedman originally signed on for a monthlong run at Soho Playhouse in September 2023, but thanks to TikTok and word-of-mouth praise, the show sold out so quickly it was soon extended to eight weeks. In January 2024, it transferred to the Connelly Theater where it played for another two months. Even with all that success, Friedman didn't think this would be the play to bring him back to Broadway after a two-decade absence. Not that he's complaining. He's not concerned, either, about performing this intimate show in a larger venue.

"We've been doing the play for a year, I'm good," he says with a laugh. "Where we do it is immaterial. I remember moving The Heidi Chronicles from Playwrights Horizons to Broadway's Plymouth Theatre. Initially I was worried about that. But somehow our little play was able to fill that house."

Friedman remembers that production vividly. He starred opposite his then girlfriend, later wife, Joan Allen, and it's how he got to know the playwright, Wendy Wasserstein, so well. "I saw Wendy's play Isn't It Romantic at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. I was on an aisle seat, and I literally almost fell into the aisle laughing," he recalls. "So, I wrote to her just to say, 'That was great.' And she wrote back! I don't know if that led to me being asked to do one of the early readings of The Heidi Chronicles, but Joan and I sort of stuck to the project the whole time. They kept on asking for us."

His cherished friendship with the late Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist makes his participation in TDF's Wendy Wasserstein Project particularly meaningful. Originally called Open Doors, the arts mentorship program began as an experiment in 1998. Wasserstein herself took eight high schoolers to six shows on Broadway and beyond to find out if theatre could captivate the hearts and minds of a new generation. As she listened to the teens passionately discuss what they'd seen during their post-performance pizza parties, she discovered the answer was a resounding yes. Since then, the Wendy Project has grown exponentially and even won a special Tony Honor.

Peter and his second wife, Caitlin O'Connell, joined the Wendy Project in 2012. "Caitlin knew one of the people who was running the program at TDF, and he asked if we would be interested in being mentors," Friedman says. "From the get-go, it was an eye-opener. The very first show we saw, [the cheerleading musical] Bring It On, we asked the kids, 'So, who did you relate to?' And each and every one related to the unattractive girl who brought water to the team. They all responded to being the outsider. Tears were shed. I mean, ugly tears. I thought, what is this? Holy crap. I had no idea it was going to be like that."

Friedman was so enthralled by the post-show conversations that he's been with the Wendy Project ever since, initially working with students from the EBC High School for Public Service in Brooklyn, then from Pan Am International High School in Queens and currently with teens from the Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School in the Bronx. "I know Wendy would be proud to see how well her program's doing," he says.

While he's not sure his new cohort of Wendy Project mentees will get a chance to see him in Job (the show only runs until October 27), he is excited about another season of theatregoing. And he's personally looking forward to seeing City Center's two-week revival of Ragtime so he can revisit a career highlight. "Brandon Uranowitz is playing Tateh, and he was the little boy in the original company of Ragtime with us in Toronto before we came to Broadway," Friedman says, adding that performing in the 25th anniversary Ragtime concert last year was a thrill.

"We filmed that performance you know," he says. "I keep waiting for it to be released. I might be in my coffin by the time it's ready. Let's get going!"

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TDF MEMBERS: At press time, discount tickets were available for Job. Go here to browse our latest discounts for dance, theatre and concerts.

Job is also frequently available at our TKTS Discount Booths.