Sunday, October 31, 2010

Winston-Salem Journal Review - "To Kill a Mockingbird"

excel: Play has consistently good acting

Credit: Shawn Hooper photo
Laura Browne plays Scout and Jae Campbell plays Calpurnia in the Arts Council Theatre production of To Kill a Mockingbird.

     The Arts Council Theatre was packed Friday night for the opening of To Kill a Mockingbird, and, no doubt, most of the audience had either read Harper Lee’s Pulitzer-prize-winning novel or seen the movie, starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch.
     In the program’s director’s notes, Stan Bernstein addresses the challenge of following in such footsteps. He writes, “the bar is set so high, you need binoculars to see it.” Did they clear the bar? Most certainly.
     Mark Boynton did not walk on stage with Peck’s physical height — a gift when an actor plays a giant like Atticus Finch — and he certainly did not appear to be 50 years old — despite the silver hairspray. But within minutes, the magic of his acting had us convinced we were looking at the lawyer who faced racial hatred in the 1930s rural South and didn’t turn away. 
     Don Pocock is his perfect foil as the strutting, smirking Mr. Gilmer, who represents the accuser, Mayella Ewell. In that role, Rene Walek hides under greasy, long bangs, wrings her skirt and wilts into an olive-drab cardigan as she portrays a young woman who is both incorrigible in her lying and pitiful as someone who is as much a victim as the black man she falsely accuses of raping her.
     Three exceptionally talented children held their own on a stage filled with adults, and that’s not easy. Laura Browne (Scout), Adam Chase (Jem) and Britton Sear (Dill) each came to this show with an already impressive acting history. The addition of such fine performances in To Kill a Mockingbird will certainly further their theatrical careers.
     Still, one question lingers. What happened to make the spitting tomboy, Scout — dressed in bib overalls and mismatched socks — grow up to become the adult Jean Louise who narrates the story? Sheri Masters, in that role, plays prim and proper from the tips of her high-heeled pumps to her tight French twist. She didn’t even bat an eye during one or two opening night microphone malfunctions. Positioning her on stage — and yet setting her apart by having her voice the only one amplified — very effectively illustrated her intense love for her father.
     And directing the two lawyers to play to the audience — creating the sense that the audience was the jury — did exactly what Bernstein intended. From our perspective 50 years after the book was written, we longed to free Tom Robinson (played with gut-wrenching resignation by Derrick Parker). The audience may not have been as innocent as the children hanging over the courtroom balcony, but we knew the truth of the situation — and the times — and it broke our hearts.
      Mark March, as Heck Tate, drew a round of applause for his delivery of the line, “Bob Ewell fell on his own knife.” It didn’t matter whether the applause was for March’s consistently strong performance as the conflicted sheriff, or because the audience supported his decision to protect the Finch family. The applause was well-deserved and provided the point at which the entire cast cleared Bernstein’s bar — with inches to spare.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Cast List for "To Kill a Mockingbird"

 An American classic comes alive on stage
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Based on the novel by Harper Lee and adapted for stage by Christopher Sergel
October 29-31 and November 5-7,  2010

A young girl in a quite 1930's southern town is about to experience dramatic events that will change her life forever as Atticus Finch, her father, fights the legal battle of his career and teachers an entire generation the meaning of justice, truth, and courage.

Mark Boynton - Atticus Finch
Laura Browne - Scout
Jae Campbell - Calpurnia
Adam Chase - Jem
Diana Coe - Ensemble/Court Reporter
Aleeta Dahbour - Miss Stephanie
Taylor Freeman - Cunningham
Jordan Googe - Bob Ewell
Angela Hodges - Ensemble
Guy Hull - Ensemble
Jeremy Kuhn - Ensemble
Mark March - Heck Tate
Sheri Masters - Jean Louise
Carol McConnell - Ensemble
Andrew Parcell - Boo/Nathan Radley
Derrick Parker - Tom Robinson
Don Pocock - Mr. Gilmer
Adrian Quarles - Rev. Sykes
Britton Sear - Dill
Kay Shelton - Mrs. Dubose
Mark Walek - Judge Taylor
Rene Walek - Mayella Ewell
Jean Wentz - Miss Maudie
Shannon Wicks - Helen Robinson