Shia LaBeouf Joins Alec Baldwin for Broadway’s ‘Orphans’

Shia LeBeouf will make his Broadway debut next spring alongside Alec Baldwin in “Orphans.”

The production will begin previews March 19, 2013, with an opening slated for April 7.

LeBeouf will portray Treat, a Philadelphia petty thief who lives in a dilapidated row house with his younger brother Phillip. Baldwin plays Harold, a mobster with many emotional layers, that is kidnapped by the brothers. Harold soon becomes something of a father figure to the two brothers.

The play was written by Lyle Kessler in 1983, and was a critically acclaimed Off-Broadway production in 1985 that starred Terry Kinney as Treat, John Mahoney as Harold and Kevin Anderson as Phillip. Casting for Phillip in the new version will be announced a later date.

Tony Award-winner Daniel Sullivan will direct the new incarnation of “Orphans.” His most recent Broadway work is the current revival of “Glengarry Glen Ross,” which is playing at the Schoenfeld Theater.

“Orphans” also was adapted into a film in 1987 starring Albert Finney and Matthew Modine. Kevin Anderson reprised his role from the play in the film.

LeBeouf, of course, is best known for his film work, particularly in the “Transformers” franchise and the most recent Indiana Jones movie along with Harrison Ford. He also has been seen in “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,” “The Company You Keep” and “The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman.” The latter movie also stars Evan Rachel Wood and Melissa Leo. He recently finished filming “Nymphomaniac,” a Lars von Trier film also staring Charlotte Gainsbourg and Stellan Skarsgard. LeBeouf was first known to younger audiences as the star of the Disney Channel television series “Even Stevens.”

The actor is one of many well-known film and television actors making their Broadway debut in 2013, including Amber Tamblyn, Maggie Grace, Emilia Clarke and Tom Hanks. The latter will star in Nora Ephron’s “Lucky Guy.”