Justice Sonia Sotomayor visits Kansas City Episcopal church to watch first draft of musical based on her book
A musical based on the book Just Ask!, written by Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, had its first workshop in early August at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Kansas City, Missouri. The musical will be staged at Kansas City’s Coterie Theatre in 2025. Photo: Coterie Theatre website
[Episcopal News Service] Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor made a stop at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Kansas City, Missouri, last weekend to watch the first workshop, or draft, of a new musical being created based on her children’s book “Just Ask! Be Different, Be Brave, Be You.”
A New York Times bestseller and winner of the Schneider Family Book Award, the book, one of four children’s books Sotomayor has written, celebrates the different abilities that children have and includes her own experience as a child who was diagnosed with diabetes – all within the context of children working together to build a community garden and asking each other questions as they go along. It also has been translated into Spanish. Sotomayor, who has served on the nation’s highest court since 2009, is the court’s first Latina justice.
St. Paul’s made its parish hall available when the Coterie Theatre, a nationally recognized theatre for young people that will stage the musical next year, needed space for the workshop, Amy Graham, a St. Paul’s parishioner and Coterie board member, told Episcopal News Service. The theater’s space was taken up with its production of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” so was searching for an alternate location. Graham, with the approval of St. Paul’s rector, the Rev. Steven King, offered the church.
Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor (second from left) with members of the staff of St. Paul’s, Kansas City, Missouri, after the church hosted the first workshop of a musical of her children’s book Just Ask! With her are (from left) parish administrator Nicole Lux, rector the Rev. Steven King and assistant rector and chaplain the Rev. Brittany Sparrow Savage. Photo: Facebook
King told ENS that he first learned of Sotomayor’s possible visit in April and was on hand for the Aug. 3 workshop. The justice spent time with church staff afterward and spoke to him for about 10 minutes. He thanked her for being at St. Paul’s and for the work she does on behalf of the country. “She said she didn’t know what her legacy would be, but that she hoped this book would be her legacy,” he said.
Sotomayor’s visit to Kansas City took place Aug. 1-3 and included a variety of events, including reading her book to a group of children at Kansas City’s Central Library and to Girl Scouts at an elementary school, as well as a panel discussion. She also surprised performers at the Coterie’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” by attending one of their performances.
Graham said that Sotomayor has been working with a noted director, Fran Sillau, who wrote the musical’s book, or spoken parts, to turn her work into a musical. Sillau’s partner Mark Kurtz wrote the music and lyrics, and Sillau will serve as guest director for the show at the Coterie, she said.
The musical also will have a unique twist, Graham said, in that a variety of characters are being written, each with a unique challenge or disability, and every theatre that produces the work can pick from them based on the actors they cast who have similar characteristics. The Kansas City version, which runs Jan. 29-Feb. 23, 2025, will include a girl with diabetes, like Sotomayor.
During her participation in the community panel discussion, Graham said Sotomayor was asked if any of the justices are artists. Sotomayor replied “no,” but then added, “I guess I’m an artist.” But she then said, “At work words are my sword, but outside of work, they’re my refuge — and I wrote these books.”
— Melodie Woerman is an Episcopal News Service freelance reporter based in Kansas.
