Annual Play production has Hometown Advantage
Mockingbird Players paint their production of
To Kill a Mockingbird with authentic local color

    This year is special for The Mockingbird Players of Monroeville, Ala. 2010 is the 20th season of the Players’ acclaimed production of a two-act play based on Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, and it is the 50th anniversary of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbi rd. Every performance is sure to be a sellout. The play opens April 23 at the Old Courthouse Museum. Tickets go on sale March 1.
     Monroeville, Ala. is the birthplace of Harper Lee and is generally regarded as the model for the novel’s fictitious setting of Maycomb. Thousands of people from throughout the world visit the historic courthouse in Monroeville each year in search of the roots of To Kill a Mockingbird.
     The Mockingbird Players, an amateur theater group, has performed the play by Christopher Sergel to sold-out crowds at the Old Courthouse Museum each May since 1991. The production’s popularity has grown largely because it offers the audience the unique experience of an authentic hometown cast performing in the very courtroom where Harper Lee’s father practiced law.
    The Mockingbird Players also place the audience in the play. The all-white, all-male jury, which ultimately convicts Tom Robinson, is chosen from each evening’s audience. The rest of the audience watches from the courtroom floor and the balcony, along with Jem, Scout, Dill and other Maycomb residents.
    The first act takes place in and around the audience on the lawn of the courthouse and includes the arrival of a period automobile carrying an angry mob and a family arriving for the trial in a mule-drawn wagon or “Hoover cart.” Music from the Monroe County Interdenominational Mass Choir beckons the audience into the courthouse for the second act.
     Monroeville’s productions of To Kill a Mockingbird bring residents from all areas of the community together and promote a harmony and understanding that mirrors the key messages of Ms. Lee’s famous book.
    The popular production is the major fundraising event for the Monroe County Heritage Museum. The play has also helped put the town in the national and international spotlight. Features have appeared in many national newspapers including the New York Times, the Washington Post and National Geographic Magazine, as well as numerous international publications.

Photos by Tara Baggett, Monroe County Heritage Museum