Who wrote the 2018 Broadway play adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird?

Aaron Sorkin wrote the 2018 Broadway play adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Sorkin adapted Harper Lee’s 1960 novel for a Broadway production directed by Bartlett Sher. Previews began at the Shubert Theatre in November 2018, and the play officially opened on December 13, 2018. Jeff Daniels starred as Atticus Finch, with Celia Keenan-Bolger as Scout in the original Broadway cast.

The adaptation is not a scene-for-scene transfer of the novel. Lee’s book is filtered through adult Scout’s memories and emphasizes her childhood perspective, while Sorkin’s stage version makes Atticus more central and reshapes the dramatic structure around the trial and its consequences. Those changes generated discussion, including a legal dispute with the Harper Lee estate during development.

Another source of confusion is the earlier stage adaptation by Christopher Sergel, which had been licensed for decades. Sorkin’s version was a separate Broadway adaptation, not a revision of Sergel’s script. The play also differs from the 1962 film, whose screenplay was written by Horton Foote.