To Kill a Mockingbird at Fred Kavli Theatre

Dive into a classic courtroom drama and object to the injustices of the world in To Kill a Mockingbird LIVE at the Fred Kavli Theatre from June 25 to 30! With over 40 performances scheduled for its 2023-2024 touring season, this riveting stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel will again depict the horrifying dangers of ignorance and prejudice. During the social turmoils of a Depression-era Alabama, we find small-town lawyer Atticus Finch, played by Emmy Award winner Richard Thomas, representing a black man falsely charged with rape. Experience, within two and a half hours, the fallibility of the justice system and the haunting consequences that made their mark in America’s public consciousness. To Kill a Mockingbird was adapted for theater by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, earning major recognition from the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Tony Awards under the direction of the esteemed Bartlett Sher. Click the link above to book your reservations now!

To Kill a Mockingbird Tickets

“Elegiac and effective.” – The New York Times

“Blisteringly relevant.” – Rolling Stone

More than sixty years since its original publication, Harper Lee’s classic courtroom fiction is still as relevant today as when it was conceived. This year, To Kill a Mockingbird tours throughout the country as a multi-awarded play, newly empowered to deliver its lessons and morals across 40 performances during the 2023-2024 season. Rise to the summons and stand witness to the timeless tale from June 25 to 30 LIVE at the Bank Of America Performing Arts Center’s Fred Kavli Theatre!

Adapted to the stage by Golden Globe and Academy Award winner Aaron Sorkin, this Pulitzer Prize-winning story flourishes under the direction of Tony Award winner Bartlett Sherr while staking its claim as the top-grossing American play in the history of Broadway.

Founded during the turbulent 1930s in rural Alabama, riddled with unrest from the Great Depression, our saga follows the trials and tribulations of small-town lawyer Atticus Finch. Bearing a heart that holds a steadfast belief in the innate goodness of others, he sets out to defend Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of sexual transgressions in the court of law and public opinion. But as the case splits into paths both wayward and hateful, Finch must come to terms with the prejudices of his class in order to shine the light on the injustices such discriminations inflict.

“A time–honored tale, skillfully told.” – Entertainment Weekly

“One of the greatest plays in history.” – NPR

In two hours and thirty minutes of America’s most heart-wrenching legal drama, audiences will discover the common evils born from the hate and ignorance that proliferated within the Southern counties. It examines the racial tensions that endure to this day through the lens of an intriguing courtroom process and through the eyes of unsullied innocents. And though its cruelties are made evident, To Kill a Mockingbird remains an ultimately hopeful portrayal of compassion, brimming with mesmerizing performances, undeniable warmth, and good-natured humor.

CAST

• Richard Thomas as Atticus Finch
• Maeve Moynihan as Scout Finch
• Jacqueline Williams as Calpurnia
• Justin Mark as Jem Finch
• Yaegel T. Welch as Tom Robinson
• Steven Lee Johnson as Dill Harris
• Mary Badham as Mrs. Henry Dubose
• Ted Koch as Bob Ewell
• Jeff Still as Judge Taylor
• Christopher R. Ellis as Horace Gilmer
• Mariah Lee as Mayella Ewell
• Travis Johns as Sheriff Heck Tate
• Greg Wood as Link Deas
• Anne-Marie Cusson as Miss Stephanie, Dill’s Mother
• Ian Bedford as Mr. Cunningham, Boo Radley

As for the supporting teams, the production employs the talents of Denise Cormier, Rae Gray, Greg Jackson, Joey LaBrasca, David Andrew Morton, Andre Ozim, and Dorcas Sowunmi as Ensembles, in addition to Lance Baker and Stephen Cefalu, Jr. as General Understudies.

CREATIVE TEAM

• Harper Lee – Original Novel
• Aaron Sorkin – Book
• Bartlett Sherr – Director
• Miriam Buether – Scenic Design
• Ann Roth – Costume Design
• Jennifer Tipton – Lighting Design
• Scott Lehrer – Sound Design
• Adam Guettel – Original Score
• Kimberly Grigsby – Musical Direction
• Campbell Young Associates – Hair and Wig Design
• The Telsey Office – Casting
• Edward Pierce – Design Adaptation and Supervision
• Barry Diller – Producer

“I think one thing about this piece is you leave realizing how little progress we’ve made in so many areas. Especially when it comes to racism. So, I think getting to bring a piece so necessary around the country has been such a privilege and so important,” Maeve Moynihan talked about the play in an interview with BroadwayWorld.

Sixty-four years ago, in 1960, Harper Lee sought to challenge the nation with her scathing debut novel, which came into immediate and widespread acclaim among critics and readers around the globe. The following year, it was acknowledged with the coveted Pulitzer Prize for its groundbreaking social message, becoming an exemplary achievement for both the legal and literary fields.

In 1962, To Kill a Mockingbird re-entered the zeitgeist as a cinematic adaptation directed by Robert Mulligan and written by Horton Foote. A smashing success at the box office, it won in three categories, including Best Screenplay, at the 35th Annual Academy Awards and was eventually preserved in the 1995 National Film Registry.

“Superbly entertaining and handsomely acted.” – The Guardian

The book’s first theater adaptation debuted in 1990 in Monroeville, Alabama, through the work of Christopher Sergel, becoming the city’s iconic tradition during the month of May. Twenty-eight years later, prolific screenwriter/playwright Aaron Sorkin would adapt To Kill a Mockingbird to Broadway, where it opened to tremendous ovations at the Shubert Theatre in December 2018. This engagement claimed an award each from the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, and Tony Awards and made history in 2020 when the production set the largest one-day attendance world record for a play by performing to a crowd of 18,000 New York City students at the Madison Square Garden. In 2022, a West End run at the Gielgud Theatre would contribute five Olivier Award nominations to the story’s enduring legacy.

Join us here in Thousand Oaks, CA, and together, we’ll stand strong against racial injustice alongside Atticus Finch at the Fred Kavli Theatre’s presentation of To Kill a Mockingbird from June 25 to 30, 2024. Tickets are now available for purchase. Click the link to book yours now!

Review for Variety by Marilyn Stasio

“Against all odds, writer Aaron Sorkin and director Bartlett Sher have succeeded in crafting a stage–worthy adaptation of Harper Lee’s classic American novel To Kill a Mockingbird.”

“This play belongs to Atticus Finch. He holds the stage and he wins our love. When he’s robbed of his faith in his fellow man, it’s hard to believe he’ll be able to go on. But Scout — the nightingale — is the heart of the book and although she’s lost her innocence, we know she’ll go on.”