THE ROYAL COURT THEATRE ANNOUNCES A NEW EXCLUSIVE PARTNERSHIP WITH PRODUCERS BRIAN AND DAYNA LEE
Press Contacts:
Rick Miramontez / Kendall Edwards
rick@omdkc.com / kendall@omdkc.com
212 695 7400
Royal Court Press Contact:
Maisie Lawrence
maisie@breadandbutterpr.uk
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE
THE ROYAL COURT THEATRE
ANNOUNCES A NEW EXCLUSIVE PARTNERSHIP
WITH PRODUCERS
BRIAN AND DAYNA LEE
To download photos, click here.
New York, NY (September 25, 2025) – The Royal Court Theatre London has today announced a new partnership with award-winning theatre producers Brian and Dayna Lee, following the success of their collaboration on the Olivier Award-winning Giant.
This multi-year exclusive ‘first look’ agreement will see Brian and Dayna Lee working with the Royal Court to develop the future life of productions originating in the Court’s Jerwood Theatre Downstairs. The partnership will increase investment in ambitious new work on the Royal Court’s main stage while growing pathways for new plays to reach wider national and international audiences.
Dubbed “Power Producers” by Forbes earlier this year, Brian and Dayna Lee are a Canadian born, New York based husband-and-wife team and founders of AF Creative Media, a three-time Tony Award and two-time Olivier Award winning production company.
Their first collaboration with the Royal Court was Mark Rosenblatt’s Giant, directed by Nicholas Hytner and starring John Lithgow as Roald Dahl. The production, which won multiple Olivier Awards, including Best New Play, enjoyed sold out runs at the Royal Court’s Jerwood Theatre Downstairs in 2024 and broke capacity and box office records at Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End in 2025, now set to transfer to Broadway in 2026. Brian and Dayna Lee’s other credits include Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s Fiddler on The Roof, which received a record-breaking 13 Olivier nominations before transferring to the Barbican.
Royal Court Artistic Director David Byrne and Executive Director Will Young said: “Working together on Giant, from our first meeting, Brian and Dayna were dream collaborators. It wasn’t long before we were discussing all our future plans together – and it became clear we needed to make them an extended part of the Court team. We couldn’t be happier that this new partnership will see us expand the future life possibilities for the work presented in our Jerwood Theatre Downstairs to audiences around the world. Long live the UK-Canadian artistic axis!”
Brian and Dayna Lee said: “The Royal Court is, without question, the world’s foremost home for new writing. It’s a place for daring ideas, radical voices and the most visionary playwrights of our time. For decades, it has redefined the possibilities of theatre, setting the standard for bold, original storytelling, both in the UK, and on the global stage.
From our very first conversations with David and Will, it was clear that they carried a powerful vision: one rooted in the Court’s extraordinary legacy, but also fearlessly focused on the future. We are deeply honored to support that vision and help carry the Royal Court’s astonishing work from its iconic home in Sloane Square to the West End, to Broadway and on to international audiences around the world.”
The Royal Court’s production of Giant will open on Broadway in March 2026 at a to be announced Shubert Theatre. It is lead produced by Brian and Dayna Lee, Stephanie Kramer and Nicole Kramer, Josh Fiedler and Robyn Goodman and the Royal Court Theatre.
ABOUT THE ROYAL COURT
The Royal Court Theatre is the writers’ theatre. It is the leading force in world theatre for championing and cultivating playwrights – at home and around the globe – essential to how we understand one another and the changing world around us.
Since 1956, we have commissioned and produced hundreds of writers, from John Osborne to Tife Kusoro. Writers, directors, actors and audiences look to the Royal Court for the classics of the future. That includes plays like Mark Rosenblatt’s Giant – winning the Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2025 before a record breaking West End run – as well as plays that were once considered subversive, immoral or blasphemous and which are now studied in schools and performed all over the world.
The Royal Court’s nearly 70 year is history is defined by taking risks on stage, often ahead of public taste and opinion. The Royal Court’s unique purpose as a national institution is to define the future of new theatre, constantly challenging the past and provoking the present.
ABOUT BRIAN AND DAYNA LEE
Brian and Dayna Lee are a husband and wife team and the founders of AF Creative Media, a three-time Tony Award and two-time Olivier Award winning production company.
Producing projects include: Giant by Mark Rosenblatt, starring John Lithgow as Roald Dahl and directed by Nicholas Hytner. The production sold out at the Royal Court Theatre in Fall 2024 before transferring to the West End in Spring 2025. GIANT won three Olivier Awards, including Best New Play and was the highest grossing play in the history of the Harold Pinter Theatre. GIANT will transfer to Broadway in Spring 2026, playing a 16-week limited run starting on March 11, 2026.
The Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production of Fiddler on the Roof received a record-breaking 13 Olivier nominations and won the Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival. The production played at the Barbican in Summer 2025 and is currently touring the UK and Ireland.
Tectonic Theater Project’s Here There Are Blueberries, directed by Moisés Kaufman, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist and received the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play. Blueberries became the highest-grossing play in New York Theatre Workshop’s history and is currently on tour across the US, with future productions planned in Spain, London, Australia, Italy, and other international locations.
Caroline, by Preston Max Allen, directed by David Cromer and starring Chloë Grace Moretz, currently playing Off-Broadway at MCC Theater.
Becoming Eve, based on the bestselling memoir by Abby Stein, was staged at New York Theatre Workshop, starring Tommy Dorfman, Brandon Uranowitz, Richard Schiff, and Judy Kuhn in Spring 2025.
They have also co-produced Company (Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical), Moulin Rouge (Tony Award for Best Musical), Angels in America (Tony Award for Best Revival of A Play), Cabaret at the Kit Kat Klub, The Who’s Tommy, Funny Girl and Dead Outlaw.
They are Executive Producing the upcoming films: The Housewife starring Naomi Watts and Luke Evans. Jeremiah Zagar’s The Painted Bride starring Jeremy Allen White and Mandy Patinkin and producing Schmatta Business, a documentary exploring the untold story of working-class Jews who transformed the rag trade into an enduring legacy.
Brian and Dayna run a popular Instagram blog called @artsfoodfamily with over 128k followers, where they share their journey navigating their way through the Big Apple. Their greatest achievement to date has been their amazing children, Ella & Emmy and Ezra.
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