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Feature article
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Montana Rep brings ‘Mockingbird’ to Pound
By Jessica Fischer
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Like countless other 14-year-olds of his generation, Greg Johnson was asked to read “To Kill a Mockingbird” the summer before his freshman year of high school.
Johnson still remembers sitting on the warm sand of the Jersey shore, cracking the binding of Harper Lee’s story about Scout, Tom Robinson, Boo Radley and Atticus Finch, and instantly falling in love “with the poetry of the language, with the sassiness of Scout, the quiet dignity of Tom, the mystery of Boo and ultimately with the courage of Atticus.”
“This is the story we all grew up with,” Johnson said. “My life changed in that summer of ’62. I would never again look at prejudice, intolerance, the South or family with the same eyes.”
All grown up now, Johnson serves as artistic director of Montana Repertory Theatre, which will present Christopher Sergel’s adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Nov. 11 at the Performing Arts Center, adjacent to Adams Combined School on Route 23 in Pound, Va.
Curtains up is at 7:30 p.m.
Now celebrating the 50th anniversary of its publication, “To Kill a Mockingbird” was brought to the screen in an Academy Award-winning adaptation by Horton Foote in 1962 and was later adapted for the stage by Sergel. Though over 35 years old, this stage adaptation continues to compel and delight viewers worldwide with its warmth, wit and wisdom.
Audiences find themselves transported to a sleepy Southern town in the 1930s and discover that the issues of that time — prejudice, racism and human values — are issues of all time.
Atticus Finch, an attorney and the widowed father of two young children, stands against his fellow townspeople by defending a young black man falsely accused of raping a white woman. Finch instills in his children the traditional moral values of honesty, courage, integrity, respect for others and, above all, responsibility for one’s actions.
Without fanfare or bravado, Finch achieves the status of true American hero, telling his son that courage is “when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.”
Established as the theatre in residence at the School of Fine Arts at the University of Montana, Montana Repertory Theatre has been providing top-quality theatre to audiences across the country since 1968. Past seasons have included works by Tennessee Williams, Wendy Wasserstein, Neil Simon, Arthur Miller, Eugene O’Neill, Horton Foote, Ken Ludwig and William Gibson.
Admission to the performance in Pound is $12 for adults, $8 for seniors and $6 for students.
The production is presented by Pro-Art Association, the University of Virginia’s College at Wise and Mountain Empire Community College as part of the W. Campbell Edmonds Memorial Concert Series and is partially supported by the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
For tickets or more information, call Pro-Art at 276-376-4520 or visit www.pro-art-va.org.
--------GoTriCities--------
“To Kill a Mockingbird,” presented by Montana Repertory Theatre
WHEN: 7:30 p.m., Nov. 11
WHERE: Performing Arts Center, Pound, Va.
COST: $12, adults; $8, seniors; $6, students
CONTACT: 276-376-4520, pro-art-va.org
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