Bruce Norris's play Downstate is a drama about a group of men convicted of sex crimes against minors, exploring the limits of our compassion and what happens when society deems anyone beyond forgiveness. It was co-commissioned by Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago, and the National Theatre, London, and was premiered on 30 September 2018 at Steppenwolf's Upstairs Theatre, Chicago; it opened in the Dorfman auditorium of the National Theatre, London, on 20 March 2019. The play is set in a group home for sex offenders in downstate Illinois, in the present day. Four men convicted of sex crimes against minors live here in the shadow of their offences: Fred, in his seventies, now confined to a motorized wheelchair, who is confronted at the start of the play by one of his victims, Andy (now late thirties-forties); Dee, who shows little remorse for a long-term relationship he had with one of the younger performers in a touring production of Peter Pan; the voluble Gio, guilty of an offence with a teenage girl; and Felix, a Latino, whose crimes involved his own daughter. The traumatised Andy has come with his wife Em in an apparent attempt to seek closure with Fred, but when he returns alone in Act Two, it soon becomes clear that retribution is also on his mind. The premiere production was directed by Pam MacKinnon with a set designed by Todd Rosenthal. It was performed by Glenn Davis, K. Todd Freeman, Francis Guinan, Tim Hopper, Cecilia Noble, Eddie Torres, Aimee Lou Wood and Matilda Ziegler, with additional performances as the Cops (in Chicago) by Elyakeem Avraham, Maura Kidwell and Nate Whelden, and (in London) by Mark Extance, Brinsley Terence and Shelley Williams.