HBO to Adapt Lydia Diamond's STICK FLY for Small Screen

According to The Hollywood Reporter, HBO is adapting the Broadway play Stick Fly by Lydia Diamond, who will also write the script for the hourlong TV drama and executive produce with former collaborators Alicia Keys and Nelle Nugent.

Read the original report here.

Keys produced and contributed the original music for the Broadway production. Nugent has won five Tony Awards for Dracula, The Elephant Man, Mornings at Seven, Amadeus and Nicholas Nickleby. In addition to Stick Fly, Diamond is also the author of The Gift Horse, The Bluest Eye and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

On Broadway, the show was billed as, "a relaxing weekend on Martha's Vineyard ... until the baggage got unpacked. Meet the LeVays. When two adult sons independently choose to introduce their girlfriends to the parents on the same weekend, sibling rivalries flare, opinions clash, class distinctions divide and family secrets unravel."

The hit Broadway play by Diamond and directed by Kenny Leon, closed on February 26, 2012, and starred Dulé Hill ("Psych," "The West Wing") as Spoon (Kent) LeVay, Mekhi Phifer ("ER," 8 Mile) as Flip (Harold) LeVay, Tracie Thoms (Rent, "Cold Case," The Devil Wears Prada) as Taylor, Tony Award-winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Seven Guitars, Lackawanna Blues) as Joe Levay, Rosie Benton (Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Accent on Youth) as Kimber and Condola Rashad (Ruined) as Cheryl.

The creative team for STICK FLY featured Alicia Keys (Original Music), David Gallo (Scenic Design), Reggie Ray (Costume Design), Beverly Emmons (Lighting Design) and Peter Fitzgerald (Sound Design).

STICK FLY was developed in a co-production between the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston and Arena Stage in Washington D.C. The play had its world premiere at Chicago's Congo Square Theatre Company in 2006 and was subsequently performed at theatres including the McCarter Theatre in 2007 and the Matrix Theatre Company in Los Angeles in 2009. STICK FLY is the recipient of 2011 Independent Reviewers of New England Awards for Best Play and Best Director of a Drama (Kenny Leon); 2010 LA Drama Critics Circle Awards for Best Production, Best Direction and Best Ensemble Performance; a 2010 LA Garland Award for Playwriting; a 2009 LA Weekly Theatre Award for Playwriting; and, the 2006 Black Theatre Alliance Award for Best New Play. It was also a 2008 Susan Blackburn Prize finalist and a nominee for the 2006 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Work.

Photo Credit: Richard Termine

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