Arts & Entertainment
'To Kill A Mockingbird' Opens Friday at the Sierra Madre Playhouse
Based on the 1960 novel by Harper Lee, the play by Christopher Sergel debuted in London in 1988 and is now headed to the Sierra Madre Playhouse.
This Friday, Oct. 7 marks the opening of the the stage adaptation of Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird" at the .
Performances will run from Oct. 7 to Nov. 12 on Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday afternoons at 2:30 p.m except for Oct. 9, when there will be no performance. The "Gala Opening" performance on Friday, Oct. 7 will be preceded by a champagne reception and light buffet at 7:15 p.m just before the show.
The story, set in a small Alabama town in 1935, follows the story of the steadfastly decent and honorable lawyer Atticus Finch who is called upon to defend a black field worker named Tom Robinson who has been falsely accused of rape. Even Atticus admits that, given the time and location of the trial, he has little chance of success in defending his client.
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But the prisoner is innocent, a fact that Finch is determined to demonstrate by evidence in court. Finch will do it, even if he has to face down an armed and angry lynch mob determined to see the young man hanged.
Finch is also a widower and a single father, and “To Kill A Mockingbird” is also a story of how he instills his own values of decency and right conduct in the daughter and son who love him.
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Based on the 1960 novel by Harper Lee, the play by Christopher Sergel (1918-1993) debuted in London in 1988.
Sergel lived a life of global adventure before settling down to a commercially successful career of adapting the works of others to the stage, among them “Fame,” “Our Miss Brooks,” “Get Smart,” ”Winesburg, Ohio,” and much more.
For the production, Michael Cooper directs a cast that includes (in alphabetical order): Ben Bradley, Timothy Connolly, Alex Egan, Dan Ellis, Patrick Fitzsimmons, Brighid Fleming, Marvin Gay, Diane Kelber, Christian Lebano, Sarah Logan, Robert Manning Jr., Garrett Palmer, Miguel Perez, Rosina Pinchot, David Preston, Michael Andrew Stock, Tara Thomas and Lindsay Wagner.
The new production marks an opportunity to see live on stage one of the best loved stories of 20th Century American literature.
Portions of this article were submitted to Patch by Phillip Sokoloff of the Sierra Madre Playhouse.