Celebrated Broadway director Charles Randolph-Wright ("Motown the Musical") has been tapped to stage the theater adaptation of Doug Atchison's 2006 film, "Akeelah and the Bee."
The drama, adapted by playwright Cheryl West ("Jar the Floor," "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy"), will premiere in late summer at the Children's Theatre of Minneapolis.
The show, Sept. 1-Oct. 11, will kick off the 50th anniversary season of a Tony-winning company that is the nation's largest for youth and families.
Randolph-Wright has chosen some notable Twin Cities actors for "Akeelah," including stage powerhouse Greta Oglesby ("Caroline, or Change") and James A. Williams, who appeared on Broadway in August Wilson's "Radio Golf." Newcomer Johannah Easley, a junior at the St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, will play the title character.
After its Minneapolis run, "Akeelah" is expected to transfer to an unnamed but major East Coast regional theater. There is no word yet about a New York engagement. The Children's Theatre's full season will be announced in mid-February.
