Although Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird feels ripe for a major Broadway stage adaptation, that has never happened until now. Aaron Sorkin will adapt the important novel for the stage.
Scott Rudin, who produced The Social Network and Steve Jobs, will produce the play. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tony winner Bartlett Sher, who directed the 2008 South Pacific production and the latest revival of The King And I, will direct.
Rudin and Sorkin plan on bringing the play to Broadway during the 2017-2018 season.
Sorkin started his writing career as a playwright, penning A Few Good Men, which launched his career. He also wrote The Farnsworth Project and Making Movies. The writer won an Oscar for his adapted screenplay for The Social Network.
To Kill A Mockingbird remains one of the most widely read books in American literature, but has only been adapted by Hollywood once. The 1962 Robert Mulligan movie earned Gregory Peck the Best Actor Oscar for playing Atticus Finch, and it is difficult for many to see Atticus without thinking of him. Whoever has to play the role on stage will have some big shoes to fill.
Last summer, HarperCollins published Go Set A Watchmen, a rough draft of To Kill A Mockingbird. Despite some mixed reviews, the book sold 1.1 million copies in its first week.
Christopher Sergel did write a stage adaptation of Mockingbird in 1991 for school productions and is also performed in Lee’s hometown of Monroeville, Alabama every year.