- To Kill a Mockingbird is now showing at the Wharton Center until Oct. 8.
- Richard Thomas, an Emmy award winning actor for his role as John-boy in The Waltons, is playing the role of Atticus Finch in the Broadway show.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
To Kill a Mockingbird is currently taking the stage at the Wharton Center in East Lansing.
Richard Thomas is an Emmy award winning actor for his role of John-boy in The Waltons and has also stared in many other movies and television series including Ozark. Thomas plays the role of Atticus Finch in the Broadway show.
Jacqueline Williams is an award winning Broadway actress who has also held many roles off Broadway and on television. Williams plays Calpurnia in the show.
Q: Start by telling me a little about your role in the show.
Richard: "Atticus is a small town lawyer in Alabama, who has a good life and is a widower raising his two kids with the help of Calpurnia who's his housekeeper. He's asked to take on the defense of an African American man named Tom Robinson who has been accused of raping a white girl."
Jacqueline: "There's many things that Calpurnia has to school Atticus on in terms of views, feelings, thoughts, of the black community that he couldn't possibly know. So it's wonderful to play her. She's funny, she's wise, she's honest to the bone, she's truthful and she's loving."
Q: What interested you to start with To Kill a Mockingbird?
Jacqueline: "I'm pretty much a lifelong fan of the book and the film and never imagined that there would be this live theater event of the piece and so when I was contacted, I was of course interested."
Q: When it was first announced that you were taking on this role, people were saying all over social media that you were perfect for this role. What would your response be to comments like that?
R: "Well, I mean, perfect is a challenging work. I think it's a good part for me. I do I think it sits comfortably with who I am and my own sensibility as an actor. I love working in film. I've done it my whole life. I've always done both, but theater is sort of the most important place for me."
Q: What are some key takeaways that you hope people walk away with after seeing your show?
Jacqueline: "What I want them to leave with, is having some conversation amongst themselves, whoever they came with, or at least with themselves, and ask themselves, what have they done in their past to make things better? What can they do moving forward to make things better?"
Richard: "Even if it makes you a little uncomfortable, you begin to or you wake up one day, and you go oh my god when I was a kid, we really didn't say these things or do those things or make these assumptions about any subject, not just social justice and race. So then people would go out of the theater with their conscience working on them."
Q: For people who have not seen the show yet, what would you say to encourage them to grab a ticket before it's too late?
Jacqueline: "Come to take that journey of the story that they have loved for decades, but to have a fuller, more deeper experience of the journey."
Richard: "You'll laugh you'll cry, you'll have a great time. Come see us."
To Kill a Mockingbird will have shows at the Wharton Center through Oct. 8. Tickets can still be purchased online, in-person at the box office or over the phone at 1-800-WHARTON.
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