The classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee was recently adapted into a play by Christopher Sergel.  To Kill a Mockingbird is a story about a six-year-old girl Scout, her older brother Jem, and their neighbor’s nephew Dill as they find themselves spying on their mysterious neighbor Boo Radley while Scout and Jem’s father Atticus Finch defends Tom Robinson, an African American, against falsified rape charges.  In this simultaneously haunting and powerful story that has impacted generations of Americans, Scout, Jem, and Dill discover the racism and stereotyping that exists in the society that surrounds them.

Ever since the play was first performed on 3 March at the Elizabeth and Malcolm Chace Theater, it has encountered mixed reactions from audiences as a result of its controversial casting.  As a story about race and coming-of-age, the play included Angela Brazil, a grown white woman as six-year-old Scout; Jude Sandy, an African American man as ten-year-old Jem; and Mauro Hantman, a grown white man as Dill, a young and diminutive boy.  Furthermore, it included Ashley Mitchell, a young African American woman, as Mrs. Dubose, an ill-tempered and viciously racist white woman who lives near the Finches; and Alexis Green, a young African American woman as Mayella Ewell, a white woman who represents the ignorant, poverty-stricken, and hate-filled racist South.

To Kill a Mockingbird is my favorite novel, and therefore I was deeply disappointed with many of the casting choices that were made.  In a story about race and loss of childhood innocence, this play proves that it is essential to have actors and actresses of the appropriate age and race playing the roles.  These choices that were made do not stay true to the original story.  Although it was an artistically creative and metaphorically symbolic idea to have people of different races play different roles signifying the integration that has taken place within society today and the decline of racism in America, I find this contradictory.  Despite this metaphorical image that is displayed within the casting choices, racism still exists today, more so in the North where many schools, especially in specific areas of poor cities, remain socially segregated.  To many, To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that can transcend generations of Americans, reminding them of the vicious racism that existed during the Great Depression and how it has transformed over time.  By the play not staying true to the story, the main message of the novel is forgotten.

Despite some of the major faults that existed within the foundation of the play, there were some good aspects of it.  Stephen Thorne (Atticus Finch), Mia Ellis (Calpurnia), and Fred Sullivan (Bob Ewell) gave memorable performances.  Moreover, as part of modernizing the story, part of the play included intermediate stoppage of the original story where cast members would take turns telling a story about a point in their life in which they encountered prejudice or racism.  The only set that the actors used was surprisingly creative, including a couple of rows of desks staged similar to a classroom, symbolizing both the original book’s theme as a coming-of-age story and the message it sent to teach people about the racism and cruelty that exists within American society even today.  In conclusion, even though the play did not stay entirely true to the meaning of the story, it did offer an interesting modernized take on the classic story.