On Theater: ‘Mockingbird’ takes wing at Huntington Beach Playhouse

By Tom Titus

July 20, 2017 4 PM PT

While “To Kill a Mockingbird” has become a modern classic, thanks to the 1962 movie based on Harper Lee’s 1960 novel, the stage version didn’t surface until 1990 when Christopher Sergel adapted it for the theater.

This incarnation currently is being revived in an ambitious and occasionally riveting production by the Huntington Beach Playhouse, now quartered in Westminster’s Westmont School. Several individual performances glisten in the huge ensemble cast under Jack Messenger’s direction.

Racial tolerance was virtually unknown in rural Alabama back in 1935 where Lee’s story, based on events from her childhood, is set. A black man is accused of sexually assaulting a young white woman, and her bigoted father presses charges that lead to a compelling courtroom drama.

The spotlight falls to Atticus Finch, a widower with two young children and the town’s only lawyer, who takes the defendant’s case. Gregory Peck won an Oscar for playing this character in the movie and Tom Killam similarly excels in this quietly demanding role, eloquently appealing for justice while fully aware that the cards are stacked against him.

His children — who without explanation call him by his first name — are well played by Bella Aparicio and Jakob McFadden, the latter showing particular fervor. They’re joined by a young boy named Dill, enacted by a young girl, Chloe Buettner, who adds a goofily comic touch to the trio.

The standout supporting performance comes from Anastasia Lincoln as the “victim” of the assault and the textbook definition of white trash. Lincoln is brilliant in her lone scene, testifying uneasily in court and bristling against the supposed badgering of Atticus.

Her cruelly racist father, possessed of a murderous temper, is a role which invites redneck stereotypes. David Cowan touches them all, yet manages to breathe life into his pathetic character. Robert Purcell maintains order as the town’s sheriff and Jim Perham is an even-handed judge.

Another poignant moment arrives with the testimony of the defendant, obviously innocent but doomed by public opinion. Louis Ski Carr delivers a plaintive, heart-wrenching performance when called to the witness stand in his own defense.

Shira Dillon Smith plays the Fitch household’s maid, Calpurnia, with charm and authority. Mary-Pat Gonzalez firmly enacts a crotchety old neighbor woman, joined in atmospheric assignments by gossipy ladies Emily Gardner and Mary-Ann San Felippo.

The story is narrated by the grown-up Scout, now known by her birth name of Jean Louise. Carly Taylor assumes this gentle conduit to the audience with a commendable aura of style and grace.

For this production — far more demanding than the first two in the playhouse’s new venue — set designer Michael Corcoran has created a large forestage to house the courtroom scenes. The necessary props are moved on and off by the actors.

“To Kill a Mockingbird” continues to stir the conscience in its depiction of America’s often-shameful past. It offers a powerful depiction of that period in this splendid production by the Huntington Beach Playhouse.