March 2-20: 'To Kill a Mockingbird'
REP stages Harper Lee's classic 'To Kill a Mockingbird' at Roselle Center for the Arts
9:16 a.m., Feb. 25, 2016--Harper Lee’s unforgettable characters of Scout, Jem, Boo and Atticus will come to life on stage in the University of Delaware Resident Ensemble Players’ (REP) production of To Kill a Mockingbird from March 2-20 in the Thompson Theatre of the Roselle Center for the Arts.
This adaptation of Lee’s beloved classic set in 1935 Maycomb, Alabama, is a memory play told through the eyes of young Scout, the feisty daughter of lawyer Atticus Finch.
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While Scout, her brother Jem and their new friend Dill discover compassion for their mysterious neighbor Boo Radley, they also find their idyllic childhood shattered by bigotry and violence when Atticus – a person of great courage and integrity – is asked to defend Tom Robinson, a young African American man falsely accused of a crime he did not commit.
“To Kill a Mockingbird is timelier than ever,” says Sanford Robbins, the REP producing artistic director who also directs the production. “Harper Lee’s story remains a powerful, inspiring and emotionally compelling evocation of compassion and tolerance at a time when these seem deeply missing in our public discourse.”
Robbins added, “There’s great joy for the REP in bringing to life, as only live theatre can, beloved and iconic characters and situations from a novel that deeply affected us as readers, and most crucially, experiencing as a community what in a novel we can only experience as individuals. Perhaps through the communal experience of Lee’s tale, we will all be empowered to act effectively and compassionately in the face of the injustice and intolerance with which we are confronted daily.”
Schedule
To Kill a Mockingbird opens on Friday, March 4, and runs through Sunday, March 20.
Preview performances of the play take place on Wednesday and Thursday, March 2 and 3, at 7:30 p.m.
Prologues — free preshow presentations — take place on Saturday, March 12, and Sunday, March 20, beginning at 1:15 p.m. in the Thompson Theatre.
On March 12, Ty Jones, a UD alumnus and producing artistic director of the Classical Theatre of Harlem, will speak on his experience as an African American actor in the professional theatre world and his own involvement with Mockingbird.
On March 20, John Ernest, professor and chair of the Department of English who is one of the world’s top scholars in 19th century African American literature, will discuss the significance of Lee’s novel.
The REP will also offer audience members a chance to engage with the cast members at a talkback in the theatre following the performance on Thursday, March 10.
Tickets
Tickets are $23-$29, with discounts for students and seniors.
Tickets can be purchased online, by phone at 302-831-2204, or in person at the Roselle Center for the Arts, 110 Orchard Rd., Newark, Monday through Friday, from noon until 5 p.m.
A convenient parking garage is attached to the Roselle Center.
A complete schedule, directions, and information on purchasing tickets can be found at the REP website or by calling the REP box office at 302-831-2204.
The REP’s performances are sponsored in part by the Delaware Division of the Arts.
About the REP
The Resident Ensemble Players (REP) is a professional theatre company located at the University of Delaware.
The REP’s mission is to engage audiences throughout the tri-state area with frequent productions of outstanding classic, modern and contemporary plays performed in a wide variety of styles that celebrate and demonstrate the range, breadth and ability to transform a full-time ensemble of nationally respected stage actors who have been trained in the same way.
The REP is committed to create future audiences for live theatre by offering its productions at low prices that enable and encourage the attendance of everyone in the region, regardless of income.
Photo by N. Howatt