Tom Skerritt Tops Broadway Cast of ‘A Time to Kill’

Tom Skerritt, Emmy award winning film and television star, will make his Broadway debut in the stage production of the best selling novel by John Grisham entitled A Time to Kill. The show is directed by Ethan McSweeny and adapted for the stage by Rupert Holmes.

In addition to Skerritt, previously announced stars in the cast include Sebastian Arcelus as Jack Brigance, Dashiell Eaves as Pete Willard/DR Musgrove, J.R. Horne as Mr. Pate, Patrick Page as Rufus Buckley and John Douglas Thompson as Carl Lee Hailey. Also in the cast is Tonya Pinkins, John Procaccino, Lee Sellars, and Fred Dalton Thompson among several others. Skerritt himself will play Lucien Wilbanks, mentor to young defense attorney Jack Brigance and former civil rights attorney.

Skerritt is probably best known for his role on the CBS drama Picket Fences as Sheriff Jimmy Brock for which he won an Emmy Award in 1993. Other television and film credits include appearances in MASH, Steel Magnolias, Brothers & Sisters, Top Gun, and Alien as well as a long list of others.

A Time to Kill follows the story of Jack Brigance (Arcelus), a lawyer responsible for defending a black man charged with the murder of two white men after the brutal rape of his 10 year old daughter. It details the challenges of racial tensions and racial divides during the time in the small Mississippi town of Ford County as the trial progresses.

A film adaptation was created in 1996 and starred Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock, Kevin Spacey, and Samuel L. Jackson.

Performances will begin September 28 while the show’s opening is set for October 20 at the John Golden Theatre.

The show is expected to be a dramatic and heartfelt depiction of a difficult time in the lives of the characters and a difficult time in history itself. The actors and actresses will bring their roles to life in a passionate way that tells an intense story which needs to be told on the Broadway stage.