'To Kill a Mockingbird' headed for Broadway debut

Reuters
A hand-painted mural showing a scene of the 1960 bestseller " To Kill A Mockingbird" is shown on a building near where the homes of 1960's writers Harper Lee and Truman Capote's homes once stood in Monroeville, Alabama October 23, 2013. REUTERS/Verna Gates

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Harper Lee's classic novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" is coming to Broadway for the first time in a new stage version written by "West Wing" writer Aaron Sorkin, producers said on Wednesday. The Pulitzer Prize-winning 1960 novel about racism and injustice in the American south will make its Broadway debut in the 2017-2018 season, producer Scott Rudin said. Although the book was made into an Oscar-winning movie in 1962, starring Gregory Peck as noble lawyer Atticus Finch, and has been produced for the stage in various U.S. cities and in London, this will be the first time "Mockingbird" will be seen on Broadway. Lee's novel has sold more than 50 million copies and was thought to be the author's only book until an unpublished manuscript featuring some of the same characters was found and published last year called "Go Set A Watchman." "Watchman," described as a first draft of "Mockingbird," astounded readers and critics by portraying the heroic Finch as a racist who supported segregation. Sorkin is best known as the creator of the Emmy-winning White House television series "West Wing" and an Oscar-winner for the screenplay of "The Social Network." (Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Nick Zieminski)