Imagine being a Black man on trial in a segregated courtroom in Depression-era Alabama, accused of raping a local farmer’s daughter, and mounting your defense before an all-white, all-male jury of local farmers.
It’s hard to imagine that man getting a fair trial, even if he were innocent, which happens to be the case in To Kill a Mockingbird (★★★★☆), Aaron Sorkin’s riveting adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
At some point in U.S. history, the race, class, and gender dynamics driving Lee’s combustible scenario might feel quaint, laughably antiquated, obsolete. We’re not there yet. Mockingbird‘s Southern-fried courtroom drama still holds plenty of compelling truth in its reflection of racial injustice.
The accused, Tom Robinson (Yaegel T. Welch), a Negro in official ’30s parlance, faces the electric chair — if a lynch mob doesn’t get their hands on him first. And seemingly all that stands between Tom and his worst fate is the most decent and honest white man in the county, a self-described country lawyer named Atticus Finch.
For this smooth-running touring iteration of director Bartlett Sher’s Tony-winning Broadway production, Richard Thomas embodies Atticus in all his goodness, and complex moral reasoning.
Enshrined in the American imagination as an honest and decent country boy, Thomas injects just enough self-doubt and self-awareness into his portrayal to complicate the character’s heroic standing without diminishing him as a model of integrity.
Sorkin’s play — narrated by both Atticus’ precocious daughter, Scout (Melanie Moore), and willful teenage son, Jem (Justin Mark) — draws attention to Atticus’ tendency to excuse the bigotry and racial animus expressed by their “friends and neighbors,” while also encouraging his kids to treat all people equally. Don’t judge a man unless you’ve walked a mile in his skin, he admonishes Jem and Scout.
Atticus gets called out on his contradictions by the family’s cook Calpurnia, played with wit and savvy by Jacqueline Williams. Jem, increasingly frustrated with his father’s tolerance of their neighbors’ intolerance, also is critical, deeming Atticus to be meek in the face of corruption and hatred.
Thomas and Mark layer Atticus and Jem’s father-son conflict with love and respect, thus really putting the sting in the boy’s disappointment, or in his dad raising his voice in anger. On the other hand, in moments of deep sympathy between the two, the actors engender a tenderness that heals all wounds.
Moore adeptly juggles Scout’s role as guileless innocent and trusty tour guide to the town, often our eyes and ears on events just partly dramatized. Her Alabama accent wavers — and intentionally or not sounds dead-on like Amy Poehler’s hyper kid character Kaitlin on SNL — but the characterization works.
The Finch family rapport, abetted by Williams as Calpurnia, reinforces their bond with the audience as the household comes under attack, literally and figuratively. The script and direction pace the relevant reveals of the court case with masterful timing, which applies almost equally to the humor, except that a few comic beats are banged too heavily.
There’s nothing heavy at all in Miriam Buether’s graceful scenic design. Pieces glide in, descend softly, or are gently rolled into place, linking to turn a bare stage into a courtroom, or into the front porch of the Finch house. The town comes to life in the setting, as well as in the ensemble.
Yaegel T. Welch as courageous defendant Tom Robinson, Steven Lee Johnson as visiting-for-the-summer Dill, and Richard Poe as shrewd Judge Taylor offer solid approaches in support. Joey Collins’ performance as Bob Ewell, the ornery father of alleged victim Mayella, tips towards parody of a redneck villain, but Arianna Gayle Stucki is fairly mesmerizing as the prevaricating farmer’s daughter.
Mary Badham, who, at age 10, played Scout in the film version (becoming the then-youngest ever Oscar nominee for Best Supporting Actress), gives a feisty turn as crotchety, mean-for-no-good-reason Mrs. Henry DuBose.
Though, as funny as it is watching DuBose rampantly insulting everyone who crosses her path, she’s an eerily potent example of the sort of hatred that keeps this story current, and keeps honest and decent folks fighting for justice.
To Kill a Mockingbird runs through July 10 in the Kennedy Center Opera House. Tickets are $49 to $199. Call 202-467-4600, or visit www.kennedy-center.org.
For true fans of live music, and the whole concert-going and festival-going experience, Spring 2025 in the DMV is shaping up to be a banner season. And for those who're also fans of queer music and of seeing LGBTQ performers live in concert? Well, we're about to experience a real embarrassment of riches in that regard. And no, not just because of all those coming to town for WorldPride 2025. In fact, the number of out artists stopping through the area both before and after Pride this year is impressive.
Melissa Etheridge is one. Bob Mould another. Also due to visit is Allison Russell, John Grant, Rahsaan Patterson, Halsey, and Lucy Dacus. Not to mention Kylie Minogue, who's got local gay hearts beating padam padam for sure. Down the road, once Pride is a wrap, it'll be Ty Herndon's turn. Also Brandy Clark's. The Indigo Girls, Pink Martini, Laura Jane Grace will all also follow suit. Oh, and Cyndi Lauper will also return to have a little more fun -- and say farewell one more time, after time.
A robust fall/winter for dance in the DMV gives way to a lighter but still bountiful spring, with an impressive variety of utterly inviting events and performances to choose from -- from Decolonized Beatz Indigenous World Pride at Atlas Performing Arts, and international troupe Compañía Medusa exploring queer themes at Dance Place, to several collaborators melding tap dance with different genres of movement and music to keep us swinging all through the season.
ATLAS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
1333 H St., NE
202-399-7993
www.atlasarts.org
Decolonized Beatz Indigenous World Pride -- Celebrating the work of Indigenous storytellers, organizers, and performers, the arts and performance series Decolonized Beatz brings Indigenous World Pride to Arena Stage (1101 6th St. NW) on May 30, and the next day to Atlas with music and dance performances, panel discussions, film screenings, a drag show featuring Lady Shug and Ritni Tears, and a closing dance party with beatz by DJ Rivolta Sata (6/1, Lang Theatre, free admission but registration required)
BALLETNOVA CENTER FOR DANCE
It can't be easy to write a play that successfully cries out to the world "Look what happened here! Understand!" Many fall way too hard on the side of over-explaining, feeding the drama with fiction-busting expository and presenting their characters as either heroes or villains to make every point crystal clear.
Their hearts may be in the right place, but they so woefully underestimate their audience that they lose it. The truth is, everyone who has made it to adulthood knows that life is messy and that even the "good guys" stumble and struggle. The plays that can deliver their message amid this human ambiguity are the powerhouses in this tradition, playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins being a prime example.
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