Grisham's "A Time to Kill" heads for Broadway

A stage adaptation of John Grisham’s first novel, “A Time to Kill,” will have its world premiere in 2011 in what is being billed as a “pre-Broadway” production.

Arena Stage’s artistic director Molly Smith said on March 11 that the play will run May 6, 2011, through June 19, 2011, at Arena’s Kreeger Theater in Washington. The best-selling novel will be adapted by Rupert Holmes, a 1986 Tony Award winner who penned the book and score for the musical “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” and its backers have their hopes set on Broadway. New York producer Daryl Roth is helping develop the play at Arena, sub-licensing the rights and providing enhancement money.

“Daryl Roth has a keen pulse on national talent and development of new work, and this production promises to be no exception,” Smith said.

“A Time to Kill” concerns the murder trial of a father who takes the law into his own hands after his daughter is raped. A 1996 film version starred Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock and Samuel L. Jackson.

It will be the first adaptation of a novel by John Grisham for the stage.