'To Kill a Mockingbird' Coming to Broadway

By Andre Wheeler

Following the summer release of her second novel, Go Set a Watchmen, Harper Lee has agreed to a Broadway adaption of the Pulitzer Prize-winning To Kill a Mockingbird. The play will be adapted by Aaron Sorkin, (screenwriter of The Social Network, Moneyball, and Steve Jobs) and will be directed by Tony Award winning Barlett Sher. 

After much anticipation, fans were shocked with the Atticus they discovered in Go Set a Watchmen this summer, set after the events of Mockingbird. Scout an adult, Jem dead, and Atticus now an elderly man, Atticus vehemently argued against the racial integration occuring in the book's 1950s setting. It was not the progressive and gentle Atticus fans of the original book and literature critics have lauded for years. But Rudin assured Go Set a Watchmen will have no influence on his adaptation of Mockingbird.

“The Atticus we do is going to be the Atticus in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’” Rudin told The New York Times. “He’s one of the greatest characters ever created in American literature.”

No premiere dates or casting decision have been made yet. Given the racially-tense environment of today, a staging of Mockingbird is extremely relevant. A modern take on a regrettful period of American history couldn't come at a better time.