Playwrights Jeremy O. Harris & Aziza Barnes Will Write for VANISHING HALF on HBO

"Slave Play" playwright Jeremy O. Harris, alongside 'BLKS' playwright and poet Aziza Barnes, has been tapped to write the HBO adaptation of Brit Bennett's "The Vanishing Half."

Harris and Barnes also serve as executive producers; Harris joins the project under his overall deal with the network.

"The Vanishing Half" centers on identical twin sisters who run away from their small, southern Black community at age 16. As adults, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different, it's everything: their families, their communities, the essence of who they are.

Ten years later, they are living completely separate lives, far from the close-knit sisters they once were - and with many secrets that divide them further. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"One of the few highlights of 2020 was the evening I spent on my birthday curled on my couch screaming at Stella Vignes, 'HOW COULD YOU' so loudly my neighbor thought something was wrong. To know that I get the privilege to collaborate with Brit and one of my favorite playwrights Aziza in translating that moment to millions around the world is an honor. In many ways knowing that my 'twin' in this journey gets to be a playwright with whom I shared a debut season and a debut director makes this all the more special because the secret language of siblings seems to already pass between us throughout this process," said Harris.

"Reading The Vanishing Half was and is an exacting call to my family's history - one of passing for white, legends so tall as to be myths, and wounds that last several generations," said Barnes. "Beyond feeling compelled to adapt this world that I knew viscerally, to then be able to craft its coming to life with a dear friend, chosen family, is a gift beyond measure. Working with Jeremy is a delight and dedication to making art in the medium of television that grips and moves me, moves us both. I'm hype," said Barnes.

Barnes is the playwright of "BLKS," which premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in December of 2017. Their chapbooks and full-length poetry collections include "me Aunt Jemima and the nailgun" and "i be but i ain't"; their television writing credits include "God's Soldiers," "Birth of Cool," and "Pride."

Jeremy O. Harris is a writer and performer living in New York City. His play, Slave Play, was nominated for a record-breaking twelve Tony Awards.

Slave Play was a New York Times Critic's Pick, winner of the 2018 Kennedy Center Rosa Parks Playwriting Award, the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, and The Lotos Foundation Prize in the Arts and Sciences. His other plays include: Daddy (Vineyard Theatre/The New Group); Xander Xyst, Dragon: 1; and WATER SPORTS; or insignificant white boys (published by 53rd State Press). His work has been presented or developed by Pieter Performance Space, JACK, Ars Nova, The New Group, New York Theatre Workshop, Performance Space New York, and Playwrights Horizons.