Danielle Deadwyler will star in and produce a film adaptation of the 1964 novel The Street, written by Ann Petry.
According to Variety, The Street follows “the harrowing story of Lutie Johnson, a young Black woman, and her spirited struggle to raise her son amid the violence, poverty, and racial dissonance of Harlem in the late 1940s.”
In addition to starring in the forthcoming film, Deadwyler will produce it alongside Michael Sherman and Alix Madigan. Gina Atwater will write the script and serve as an executive producer.
“Ann Petry’s The Street has quaked my understanding of motherhood, Black and American family life experiences on how to just get by (historically), and the festering emotions that seed alongside the wilted optimism and dark hope of the American Dream,” the Till star said. “The Street is essential to American literature. It was evident upon its marvelous critically acclaimed debut; and, now, with this steadfast and dynamic collaboration with Alix, Michael, Gina, myself and the Petry estate, we hope to rumble the film landscape with an adaptation of her evergreen tale of the lengths to which one mother, one woman is stretched for self, family and the costs of survival.”
Ann Petry made history with ‘The Street’
According to the outlet, not only was Petry’s book featured on The Atlantic’s list of the Top 100 American novels, but it was also the first one written by a Black woman to sell more than 1 million copies.
Deadwyler can be seen now in Universal and Blumhouse’s The Woman in the Yard, which is currently in theaters.
“With filmmaking, theatre and performance art as my primary media, public/private work, race/gender/sexuality, and public performance/community dialogue, are themes central to my practice,” Deadwyler said in an artist statement housed on her website.
“My work explores how lines are blurred in the labor of black women, especial are domestic and sexual work, and the impacts on the black body,” the statement continues. “I’m interested in emboldening black women subjectivity within live performance engagement in local communities, a framework for navigating what I call a Black Americana chaos. Creating spaces for interfacing with black female subjectivity as a daily being in myriad social spheres, as a pedestalized marvel in live performances, film works, sonic/lyrical play and objects is my daily investment.”
