But when you see the story with 1,100 other people, it’s a community experiencing something together, and that’s a real thrill.” “You’re not going to be surprised by watching the movie again,” Miller-Stephany said. The play won’t take the place of the book or film, but rather add to them, particularly because going to the theater is not an individual, private undertaking, but one shared with the rest of the audience. People come year after year, even though they know Scrooge is going to become a better man.” “There’s part of us that loves to hear some stories over and over again. People are going to see things they don’t remember from the book or movie. “Instead, we’ve got this group of artists, and this moving, heartfelt story presented in a new way. Everyone’s point of departure is different, so it’s impossible to satisfy that. The film is, in fact, only a subset of the novel. “There’ve been 30 million copies of the book published. “You have to let go of other people’s expectations,” said Miller-Stephany, who has directed 17 productions in nearly two decades with the Guthrie. Namely, the audience’s varying desires, ranging from an exact copy of the book or film to something completely unfamiliar.Īnsa Akyea as Tom Robinson and Baylen Thomas as Atticus in “To Kill a Mockingbird” at the Guthrie Theater.ĭirector John Miller-Stephany’s approach: You can’t please ’em all, so do your own thing. While Christopher Sergel’s scrupulously faithful stage adaptation received the always-wary Lee’s personal seal of approval, presenting such an iconic drama anew comes with challenges. Nor is it the Pulitzer-winning Harper Lee novel on which the film was based, one of the most widely read and beloved works of 20th-century American fiction. That’s why this is such a great opportunity for both the actors and the audience: It isn’t the movie.” Something about seeing a live actor go through events in real time can’t help but be profound. “But a play can have moments that last longer than they do on film. “We’re going to have to let people down easy - Gregory Peck is not in this production,” Thomas joked during a recent rehearsal break. How does an actor go about making such a part his own? In the collective American memory, that character is thoroughly embodied by Gregory Peck, who won an Oscar in 1963 for his portrayal of the single parent and noble lawyer bucking small-town racist mores in the Deep South during the Depression. He plays Finch in the Guthrie Theater’s staging of “Mockingbird” that opens Friday. In “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Atticus Finch tells his daughter, Scout, that you can’t really understand another person “until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”īaylen Thomas is about to climb into Atticus’ skin, and doing so makes him one brave fellow.
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