Lynn Nottage’s By the Way, Meet Vera Stark Could be Broadway Bound

After a twice extended run at off-Broadway’s Second Stage Theatre earlier this year, Lynn Nottage’s By the Way, Meet Vera Stark may be heading to Broadway, according to The New York Times. Producer Elizabeth I. McCann has reportedly acquired the rights for a Broadway production of the show, is contacting investors and hopes to bring it to the Great White Way in 2012. In addition, McCann has reportedly contacted Pulitzer Prize winner Nottage (Ruined) about directors for the project, but no official announcement has been made.

By the Way, Meet Vera Stark is a 70-year journey through the life of Vera Stark, a headstrong African-American maid and budding actress in Hollywood’s Golden Age, and the tangled relationship she has with her boss, a white Hollywood star desperately grasping to hold on to her career. When both women end up landing roles in the same Southern epic, the behind-the-cameras story leaves Vera with a surprising and controversial legacy.

Sanaa Lathan and Stephanie J. Block starred in the show’s off-Broadway production, along with Tony winner Karen Olivo, Tony nominees Daniel Breaker and David Garrison, Kevin Isola and Kimberly Hebert Gregory. Jo Bonney directed. The show began performances on April 6 and opened on May 9. It was originally scheduled to close on May 22, but ran through June 12.