The production will be presented in association with New York producer Daryl Roth. A Time to Kill will play Arena's Kreeger Theater May 6-June 19, 2011. Here's how Arena characterizes A Time to Kill: "John Grisham's stunning first novel comes to the stage in this world premiere adaptation by Tony Award-winner Rupert Holmes. After an unspeakable crime is committed against his daughter, Carl Lee Hailey takes the law into his own hands. Now on trial for murder, Carl Lee's only hope lies with two young, idealistic lawyers who are outmatched by a formidable district attorney and under attack from both sides of a racially divided city. A Time to Kill asks audiences to consider the true meaning of justice."
Holmes is the Tony Award-winning playwright and lyricist of The Mystery of Edwin Drood; Say Goodnight, Gracie; Curtains and more.
Arena Stage also revealed that its previously announced production of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, directed by Pam MacKinnon, will be the Steppenwolf Theatre production starring Amy Morton and Tracy Letts. It will play the Kreeger Feb. 25-April 24, 2011.
Additionally, an engagement of Anna Deveare Smith's Let Me Down Easy, the solo docudrama in which the actress-writer plays real-life people on the topic of human physical frailty (and resilience), will play the Kreeger Dec. 31, 2010-Feb. 13, 2011. Leonard Foglia directs.
In February, Arena Stage announced six productions and two major festivals that will inaugurate the company's new venue — the Mead Center for American Theater in 2010-11. "These three developments in our inaugural season demonstrate our commitment to presented works, visiting American companies and the development of new work," artistic director Molly Smith said in a March 11 statement. "I'm thrilled that Arena is able to bring DC audiences the premiere production of A Time to Kill, and to support Tony Award-winning playwright Rupert Holmes in producing the first adaptation of a Grisham novel for the stage. Daryl Roth has a keen pulse on national talent and development of new work, and this production promises to be no exception."
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