Credit: NBC
NBC’s TV series based on the famed theater program at Harry S. Truman High School will debut in March.
According to the network, “Rise,” which is based on Michael Sokolove’s New York Times best-selling 2013 book “Drama High: The Incredible True Story of a Brilliant Teacher, a Struggling Town, and the Magic of Theater,” will air a special preview on Tuesday, March 13 at 10 p.m. Following the season finale of hit drama “This Is Us,” the new series will take the show’s prime 9 p.m. time slot for the rest of the season.
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The time slot shows NBC is placing confidence in “Rise” being a hit as the series will take the hour currently held by “This Is Us,” one of the network’s most popular shows. Expect a massive multi-million dollar marketing campaign as the new series air date gets closer.
NBC describes the series as a “heartening new drama about finding inspiration in unexpected places. When dedicated teacher and family man Lou Mazzuchelli (Josh Radnor) sheds his own self-doubt and takes over the school’s lackluster theater department, he galvanizes not only the faculty and students but the entire working-class town.”
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The New York-filmed series will not take place in Levittown, but a community based on Lower Bucks County. It will focus on a character based off now-retired Truman teacher Lou Volpe and follow a group of student similar to those who took part in his nationally-recognized theater program.
Credit: Peter Kramer/NBC
Volpe’s character has been renamed Lou Mazzuchelli, who is portrayed by Josh Radnor of “How I Met Your Mother” fame. “Rise” stars Radnor, Rosie Perez, Marley Shelton, Auli’i Cravalho, Damon J. Gillespie, Amy Forsyth and Rarmian Newton. Cravalho, 16, signed on to “Rise” after her acclaimed role as the lead in Disney’s 2016 film “Moana.”
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Jason Katims, who has produced “Friday Night Lights” and “Boston Public,” has teamed up with “Hamilton” and “Rent” producer Jeffrey Seller to create the series.
The series was expected to film some documentary footage at Truman this fall.
Volpe’s program at Truman gained national attention and controversy for some of the shows. The school’s performances also drew the eyes of Broadway, who granted the school the opportunity to have first dibs on famed productions they were adapting for younger performers.
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Sokolove, who wrote the book the show is based on, is a Levittown native and returned to the area when he was writing “Drama High.”
