Middlebury Community Players revive 'Mockingbird'

Author: Kelsey Smith

Middlebury College is self-sufficient when it comes to the arts - students do not have to look (or walk) very far to find opportunities to attend theatrical performances. It is important to remember, however, that we are part of the larger Middlebury community, a community that spends time and effort furthering their own artistic endeavors.

The Middlebury Community Players of Addison County, VT performed a staged reading of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird at the A.R.T. Hannaford Career Center, with performances running the weekend of March 2 and 9. We all know the story, or at least we should. After all, no fourth-grade education is complete without a unit devoted to Lee's masterfully didactic storytelling.

Widowed lawyer Atticus Finch is raising his children, Scout and Jem, in racially divided Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression. Atticus represents the highest degree of what it means to be morally sound, representing a young black man falsely accused of raping a white girl, trying to be the same man at home that he is in the courtroom.

The approach to telling the story was slightly different, however. Frequent Middlebury Community Players director Joyce Huff explored a new approach to staging by having the actors keep their scripts throughout rehearsal and performance. The book was subsequently an inherent part of their characterizations. The director's notes described the book as a prop, silently supporting the unfolding story "in a seamless, dramatically effective way."

This effect of the approach was furthered by a lack of transformation of space. The only sign of small-town Southern life was a proverbial white picket fence. Ultimately there was no need for an elaborate set - the setting was successfully evoked through Lee's words, narrated to the audience in intervals by Miss Maudie, played by Barbara Andres. The feeling of community was especially intimated midway through the production when the multipurpose space went from home to courtroom, everyone doing their part to move desks, chairs and gavel.

The cast and crew of "To Kill a Mockingbird," comprised entirely of non-professional actors should be commended for accomplishing the difficult task of bringing a work of classic fiction to the stage. The three children did an especially noteworthy job, with Dill, played by D.J. Piper, often stealing the show, largely due to the fact that he was dressed up to resemble a miniature Truman Capote. While the result of the production was far from polished, it was successful in providing an arena for members of the community to tell a story with an important message. Perhaps more importantly, it was evident that they enjoyed themselves in the process.

The Players present two to four musicals, comedies, and dramas in and around Middlebury every year. Founded in 1959, the Players further encourage the theater arts by holding workshops and training sessions as well as making a commitment to young people by awarding two scholarships each year to college students with an interest in pursuing theater.