TheatreWorks Presents TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, 4/7-5/9

Celebrating fifty years since the original publication of this stunning American masterpiece, TheatreWorks, the nationally acclaimed theater of Silicon Valley, presents TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, dramatized by Christopher Sergel and based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee. In the heat of summer during the Great Depression, Scout Finch, a spirited young tomboy learns the hard truths of prejudice and privilege in a small town in Alabama.

The cast will feature Kevin Blackton, Anne Buelteman, L. Peter Callender, Nancy Carlin, Blythe Foster, Rod Gnapp, Gabriel Hoffman, Phoebe Moyer, Anthony Newfield, Cathleen Riddley, Sierra Stephens, Howard Swain, and Michael Ray Wisely, with TheatreWorks' Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley at the helm. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD plays April 7-May 9 (press opening April 10) at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts.

For tickets and information, the public may call 650-463-1960 or visit www.theatreworks.org.

In 1960 Harper Lee shook the literary world with her stunning novel about race, family, and loss of innocence. Set in the small tired town of Maycomb, Alabama in the 1930's, To Kill a Mockingbird is the story of tomboy Scout Finch and her older brother Jem as they come face to face with harsh realities in the Deep South. When a black man is accused on little evidence of assaulting a white woman, Scout's father, lawyer Atticus Finch, stands for justice in the shadow of overwhelming racism in an utterly engaging tale of heartache and joy, innocence and integrity. In one of the best-loved coming-of-age stories of all time, Scout and Jem learn to place their childish fears of their unknown and mysterious neighbor behind them as they learn the shocking realities of prejudice and hatred. The book was instantly successful; in 1961, when To Kill a Mockingbird was in its 41st week on the bestseller list, it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, cementing its role as one of the great American classics. Enduring, compassionate, and unforgettable, this beautiful and moving novel resonates across the decades, inevitably finding its place in the human heart.

Born in 1926, Harper Lee grew up much like her heroine Scout as a spunky tomboy in the small town of Monroeville, Alabama. Lee has said that To Kill a Mockingbird is not an autobiography, though several people and events from Lee's childhood parallel those in Scout's childhood. Similar to Atticus Finch, Lee's father, Amasa Coleman Lee was an attorney who in 1919 represented two black men accused of murder on little evidence; Harper Lee also had a brother six years older than herself, much like Scout and Jem; and as a child in Monroeville, she met and befriended the precocious young Truman Capote, who is widely considered to be the inspiration for Scout's friend Dill. While attending college at the University of Alabama where she studied law, she wrote for campus literary magazines, and submitted short stories and other works about racial injustice, still a highly taboo subject at the time. Lee spent two and a half years writing To Kill a Mockingbird, at one point becoming so frustrated that she threw the manuscript out the window into the snow; her agent made her retrieve it. Upon the book's publication, the editorial team at Lippincott warned her that she would probably sell only several thousand copies. Instead the book was an astonishing success. With the exception of a few essays, Lee has not published anything since and has withdrawn from public life. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 5, 2007 by President George W. Bush. In his remarks, Bush stated, "One reason To Kill a Mockingbird succeeded is the wise and kind heart of the author, which comes through on every page... To Kill a Mockingbird has influenced the character of our country for the better."

Christopher Sergel was an American adventurer and playwright best known for his adaptations of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, which had a Broadway run in 1958. His many interests and talents led him on adventures throughout the world. As captain of the schooner Chance, he spent two years in the South Pacific; as a writer for Sports Afield magazine, he lived in the African bush for a year; as a lieutenant commander during WWII, he taught celestial navigation. His chief interests, however, were writing plays and managing Dramatic Publishing, Inc., the play-publishing company founded in 1885 by his great-uncle, Charles Sergel. He adapted To Kill a Mockingbird for the stage in 1970, and the production has played annually for twenty years with a local cast on the county courthouse grounds in Harper Lee's hometown of Monroeville, Alabama.

TheatreWorks has assembled an outstanding cast for TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD featuring regional veteran Anthony Newfield as Atticus Finch, and new-comer Sierra Stephens as the inquisitive Scout. Newfield returns to the TheatreWorks stage where he previously appeared in Les Liaisons Dangerueses and Charley's Aunt. He appeared on Broadway in productions of The Royal Family at Manhattan Theatre Club and Waiting for Godot and Tartuffe at Roundabout Theatre Company. Other credits include Moscow Art Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, Yale Repertory Theatre, ALLIANCE THEATRE, and Delaware Theatre Company. Sierra Stephens is making her Bay Area debut as the spirited young heroine.

The extraordinary ensemble creating the rest of the inhabitants of Maycomb include performers including Kevin Blackton as Nathan Radley and Mr. Gilmer (TheatreWorks credits include M. Butterfly, New Business and Violet, regional credits include roles at Marin Theatre Company, Pasadena Playhouse, and San Jose Stage Company, as well as a role in Chris Columbus' 2005 film Rent); TheatreWorks favorite Anne Buelteman as Miss Crawford (TheatreWorks credits include My Ántonia, Romeo and Juliet, The Country Wife, The Servant of Two Masters, Working, and Side by Side by Sondheim, Broadway credits include the blockbuster musical Les Miseráble, national tour credits include 11 years in Les Miserábles, and regional credits include roles at A.C.T., Denver Center Theatre Company, San Jose Civic Light Opera, and the Marines Memorial Theater); L. Peter Callender as Reverend Sykes (previously appeared at TheatreWorks in Radio Golf, Broadway credits include roles at the Manhattan Theater Club, New York Public Theater, and Helen Hayes Theater, and regional credits include numerous roles at California Shakespeare Theater, as well as roles at A.C.T., Berkeley Repertory Theater, Aurora Theater, and Theater for a New Audience in New York, where he appeared as Caliban in Julie Taymor's The Tempest); Nancy Carlin as Miss Maudie (previously appeared at TheatreWorks in On Golden Pond, regional credits include roles at A.C.T., Berkeley Repertory Theatre, San Jose Repertory Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, Aurora Theatre Company, Marin Theatre Company, and The Jewish Theater San Francisco); Blythe Foster as Mayella Ewell (regional credits include roles at Marin Theatre Company, Crowded Fire Theater Company, and Shotgun Players); Rod Gnapp as Bob Ewell (previously appeared at TheatreWorks in The Elephant Man, regional credits include roles at Huntington Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, A.C.T., Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Magic Theatre, and California Shakespeare Theatre); Gabriel Hoffman as Scout's best friend, Dill (TheatreWorks credits include Distracted, regional credits include roles at Hillbarn Theater, Broadway By the Bay, and American Musical Theatre of San Jose); Phoebe Moyer as Ms. Dubose (TheatreWorks credits include The Learned Ladies of Park Avenue, The Cripple of Inishmaan, Under Milkwood, and Equus, regional credits include San Jose Repertory Theatre, Aurora Theatre Company, and Marin Shakespeare Festival); Cathleen Riddley as Calpurnia (TheatreWorks credits include Dessa Rose and the Marines Memorial Theatre transfer of Crowns, regional credits include roles at A.C.T., Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, and Magic Theatre); Howard Swain as Judge Taylor, Mr. Cunningham, and Boo Radley (TheatreWorks credits include Yellow Face and On Golden Pond, regional credits include roles at A.C.T., Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Post Street Theater, the Marines Memorial Theater, California Shakespeare Festival, Marin Theatre Company, and the Magic Theatre); and Michael Ray Wisely as Heck Tate (regional credits include roles at Berkeley Repertory Theater, Aurora Theatre Company, Marin Theatre Company, American Musical Theatre San Jose, and Magic Theatre).

TheatreWorks founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley, who helmed the company's acclaimed production of Caroline, or Change and multi record-breaking World Premiere musical Emma, directs TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. This season he also directed the delightful West Coast premiere of Paula Vogel's holiday hit A Civil War Christmas, the West Coast premiere of Tony Award-winner David Henry Hwang's Yellow Face, and the World Premiere of Mark Allen and Tommy Newman's country pop musical, Tinyard Hill. Kelley has earned Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards for TheatreWorks' productions of Caroline, or Change; Ragtime; Rags; Another Midsummer Night; the West Coast Premiere of Jane Eyre; and the Sondheim classics Sunday in the Park with George; Pacific Overtures; Into the Woods; and Sweeney Todd. Additionally, he is the recipient of Bay Area Drama-Logue Awards for his direction of Pacific Overtures, Ah, Wilderness!, and Once in a Lifetime; and Back Stage West Garland Awards for his direction of Side Show and Sunday in the Park with George. Since founding TheatreWorks in 1970, Kelley has directed over 150 productions for the company.

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is the seventh production in TheatreWorks' 40th anniversary season, which will wrap up in June with Michael Hollinger's OPUS, a comedy about a string quartet looking for a new member. With over 8,000 subscribers and 100,000 patrons per year, TheatreWorks has captured a national reputation for artistic innovation and integrity, often presenting Bay Area theatregoers with their first look at acclaimed musicals, comedies, and dramas, directed by award-winning local and guest directors, and performed by professional actors cast from across the country. Last fall, TheatreWorks celebrated the arrival on Broadway of the hit musical Memphis (developed at TheatreWorks New Works Festival and presented on its Main Stage). Memphis is now in its 6th month on Broadway, has played to more than 600,000 patrons and grossed more than $11.6 million to date. The company recently concluded a held-over run of the World Premiere musical Daddy Long Legs, by John Caird and Paul Gordon, which has become one of the best attended shows in TheatreWorks history. TheatreWorks has just unveiled the line-up for its 41st season, which will begin in July 2010, and will include three more World Premieres, bringing the company's total to 56.

SHOWS: Previews: 8pm

Tuesdays and Wednesdays: 7:30pm
Thursdays and Fridays: 8pm
Saturdays: 2pm, 8pm
Sundays: 2pm, 7pm
Student Matinees: 11am, April 28, May 4, 5, 6

Pre-show "How Theatre Works" discussion April 8 at 6:30pm; Post-show Discussion Wednesdays with cast and artistic staff April 14, 21, and 28; "Visual Voice" audio-described performances are available April 30 and May 1 at at 8pm, and May 2 at 2pm.

WHERE: Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts
500 Castro Street (at Mercy), Mountain View

TICKETS: Previews: $27 (students) - $39, regular performances: $29 (students) - $62
Discounts available for students, seniors, educators, and members.
A $2 convenience fee will be assessed for online and telephone orders.

INFO: For information or to order tickets call (650) 463-1960 or visit www.theatreworks.org.

 

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