Several years ago, I had the privilege of study with Lydia Diamond, a playwright on the School of Theatre faculty at Boston University. A frequent source of examples was Lydia’s play Stick Fly. It was quite exciting to see a revised version of Stick Fly sell out a run at the Huntington, get extended and sell out again, finally capture multiple awards. It was a “Miracle Year” for Lydia, as one critic opined.
Well, perhaps luck had something to do with it. But there was definitely something more, because look what’s happening this fall: Stick Fly is opening on Broadway! Tickets are available now; the homepage features a short video with interview excerpts with Lydia and the production team. And, yes: Alicia Keys is the producer. And she is also one of the people contributing soundbytes.