One of America’s modern classics for literature will now be opening on Broadway in a matter of days. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird has seen the big screen but will now hit the stage in the big apple. The play was written by Academy Award winner Aaron Sorkin and was directed by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher.

The story is told through the eyes of a young girl named Scout whose father, Atticus Finch, is working as a lawyer in Alabama during the 30s. He has been hired to defend Tom Robinson, a black man who was wrongly accused of raping a white woman. This widely challenged novel explores serious issues such as rape, racial injustice, and prejudice.

Since its announcement on the finale of the PBS series, The Great American Read, the new play has buzzed the media. Fans are curious as to how the play adaptation will turn out and if it will do to justice to the book. Every event that occurs in the play is in the book but it is a matter of perspective on some of the subjects that differentiates the book and the play. “It’s going to be a new look at familiar material. It’s going to be an exhilarating night in the theatre,” said Aaron Sorkin in a 60 Minutes interview.

Actor, musician, and playwright Jeff Daniels has taken on the starring role of Atticus Finch. Sorkin explained that he was the only actor ever to be considered for the role because he was the best actor he knew and he knew that he wasn’t going to care about expectations. In preparation, Daniels re-read the novel, the biographies of Harper Lee and the history on Jim Crow Laws as he wanted to know as much or even more on the subject than the critics. “I’m originating the role as far as I’m concerned. There’s no movie. There’s a book that we’re basing it on.” said Daniels in another interview with 60 Minutes. Many people are requesting tickets and producers say that the advance sales are way ahead of any Broadway production this past year.

This sure to be hit Broadway production will take the stage on December 13 at the Shubert Theater in New York City. For more information on play and tickets sales, click here .