‘Lonely Hunter’ to tour South

More than 60 years after Carson McCullers won acclaim with her first novel, “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter,” a stage version will have its world premiere in Atlanta next week.

The play, written by Rebecca Gilman and directed by Doug Hughes, begins a monthlong run March 23 at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre before making a four-state Southern tour that will include a stop in Columbus, Ga., McCullers’ hometown.

McCullers, who died in 1967, was in her early 20s when she wrote the novel about life in a small Southern city in the late 1930s. McCullers wrote for the stage, including a highly successful version of her novel “The Member of the Wedding,” but “Lonely Hunter” lacks a central plot and presents a special challenge to a playwright.