Ethan McSweeny, who directed the recent world-premiere engagement at Arena Stage in Washington, DC, will again direct. The cast of the reading will include Beau Bridges, Emily Bridges and Tony winner Shuler Hensley.

Should the production move forward to Broadway, the Post says producers plan to approach Justin Timberlake for the role of the young legal protegé.

The cast at Arena Stage featured Sebastian Arcelus (Elf and Jersey Boys) as defense attorney Jake Brigance with Erin Davie (Grey Gardens, A Little Night Music) as his wife, Carla; Dion Graham (Marcus Gardley's On the Levee at Lincoln Center) as defendant Carl Lee Hailey; Evan Thompson (Broadway's 1776, City of Angels and An American Daughter) as Judge Omar Noose; Rosie Benton (Broadway's Accent on Youth) as young law clerk Ellen; Brennan Brown (The Persians and Pinter's The Celebration Off-Broadway) as the D.A.; plus Jeffrey M. Bender, Trena Bolden Fields, Jonathan Lincoln Fried, Deborah Hazlett, Joe Isenberg, Chike Johnson, Michael Marcan, Hugh Nees and John C. Vennema.

A Time to Kill, according to Arena press notes, "depicts a Mississippi town’s upheaval when Carl Lee Hailey takes the law into his own hands following an unspeakable crime committed against his daughter," according to Arena. "Now on trial for murder, Carl Lee's only hope lies with one young, idealistic lawyer Jake Brigance, who is outmatched by the formidable district attorney, Rufus Buckley, and under attack from both sides of a racially divided city."

The Arena staging was produced by special arrangement with commercial producer Daryl Roth.