Every day is opening night.

“TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD” TO LAUNCH NATIONAL TOUR AT KENNEDY CENTER IN WASHINGTON, DC

Press Contact:
Rick Miramontez / Marie Bshara
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FOR RELEASE ON THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2019

HARPER LEE’S
“TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD”
A NEW PLAY BY AARON SORKIN
WILL LAUNCH ITS NATIONAL TOUR
IN OUR NATION’S CAPITOL

PERFORMANCES BEGIN AUGUST 2020
AT THE JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

AND
AARON SORKIN, JEFF DANIELS, AND CAST MEMBERS HEAD TO  WASHINGTON, D.C. ON TUESDAY FOR A SPECIAL EVENT AT
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
TO CULMINATE NATIONAL “THEATRE IN OUR SCHOOLS” MONTH,
SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI, SPECIAL GUEST                                                                    

New York, NY – Producer Scott Rudin announced today that To Kill A Mockingbird, Aaron Sorkin’s new play, directed by Bartlett Sher, and based on Harper Lee’s classic novel, will launch its coast-to-coast National Tour in August 2020 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the heart of the nation’s capital. The tour will be on the road for over two years. Additional information about the tour, including casting and additional cities, will be announced shortly.

Deborah Rutter, President, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, commented, “We are thrilled to be launching the national tour of Aaron Sorkin’s extraordinary new play. To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the great American treasures, and it is an honor to be presenting it in the nation’s cultural center.”

On Tuesday (April 2), to culminate National “Theatre In Our Schools” Month, Mr. Sorkin, Jeff Daniels, and members of the Broadway cast of To Kill A Mockingbird are taking the play to Washington, DC, for an unprecedented special presentation at the Library of Congress, in partnership with the Educational Theatre Association. Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be the special guest, opening the event alongside Dr. Carla Diane Hayden, Librarian of Congress (the first woman in our nation’s history to hold the coveted position).  Additionally, the production is excited to present DemocracyWorks essay winner, high school senior Brannon Evans of Omaha, Nebraska, with a $10,000 college scholarship at a dinner the preceding evening, made possible through a grant to the Educational Theatre Foundation.

On Broadway, the World Premiere production continues to break record after record at the box office, including its recent single-week record for the highest grossing American play in Broadway history. The now record-breaking gross of $1,701,683.59 was achieved in the second full week of performances (w/e 12/30/18) after the play officially opened to critical acclaim on Thursday, December 13.

It also holds the Shubert Organization’s box office record for the highest weekly gross of any Broadway play in the organization’s history. The record-breaking gross of $1,586,946.02 was achieved in the first full week of performances after the play opened. The all-time record was previously held by Betrayal (also produced by Scott Rudin) with $1,442,087 in 9 performances, which To Kill A Mockingbird surpassed in 8 performances at 101.43% capacity. Since performances began on Thursday, November 1, 2018, To Kill A Mockingbird has not played to an empty seat, with 100% capacity (or greater) for every performance. The advance currently stands at more than $22 million.

Set in Alabama in 1934, Harper Lee’s enduring story of racial injustice and childhood innocence centers on one of the most venerated characters in American literature, the small-town lawyer Atticus Finch.  The cast of characters includes Atticus’s daughter Scout, her brother Jem, their housekeeper and caretaker, Calpurnia, their visiting friend Dill, a mysterious neighbor, the reclusive Arthur “Boo” Radley, and the other indelible residents of Maycomb, Alabama from the novel.

NYT Critic’s Pick. “A ‘Mockingbird’ for our moment. Beautiful, elegiac, satisfying, exhilarating.”
Jesse Green, The New York Times

“It’s soaring, towering, and deeply embedded in the American consciousness.”
Peter Marks, The Washington Post

“All rise for Aaron Sorkin’s great play.  One of the best in history.”
David Richardson, NPR

“A game-changing ‘Mockingbird.’ A genuinely radical new play that fits this riven American moment.”
Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

“Stirring, provocative, and thoroughly original, it speaks to our troubled times.”
Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times

“Majestic and incandescent, this ‘Mockingbird’ is filled with breath and nuance and soul.”
Sara Holdren, New York Magazine

“Aaron Sorkin’s play is a great work of American theater.”
Toby Zinman, The Philadelphia Inquirer

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