Arts & Entertainment

Alpharetta Actors, Director Help Present 'To Kill a Mockingbird'

Alpharetta's ACT1 Theater opens its production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play starting on July 15.

Alpharetta's ACT1 Theater presents the Pulitzer Prize winning "To Kill A Mockingbird at its home in starting Friday, July 15.

Dramatized by Christopher Sergel, the story by the mysterious and elusive Harper Lee comes to life on stage with a 22-member cast under the direction of Alpharetta resident Jennifer Thornett.

It is 1935, and Scout Finch and her brother Jem live with their widower father, Atticus, in the mythical town of Maycomb, AL.  A respected lawyer, Atticus is often paid for his legal services with the strange coin of stove wood, hickory nuts or turnip greens during the hard times of the United States' Great Depression.  Though life seems sleepy and quiet here, tension is just under the calm surface of small town life. Tom Robinson, a black man, is accused of a grave crime against a white woman, and Atticus Finch is named to defend him.

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Alpharetta cast members include Miller Anton as Jem, Eli Hutchinson as Dill, Saran Kawakami as Calpurnia, Barbara McFann as Miss Maudie, Cameron Morton as Mayella Ewell, Hugh Chapman as the clerk, Donny Matchen as a member of crowd scenes, and Ed Sims as Walter Cunningham. 

Roswell resident and professional actor Mike Yow said he feels honored to performsas Atticus, the role made famous by film legend Gregory Peck.

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"Atticus is an inspirational and heroic role model," Yow said. "I find myself wondering what Atticus would do in my own real life situations."

Eleven-year-old triple threat actress Kealy Ford joins with Yow in the lead role of Scout, the spirited young daughter of Atticus, and Harper Lee's alter ego. 

"To Kill A Mockingbird" opens Friday, July 15, and runs every Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. through Saturday, Aug. 6, with Sunday Matinees on July 24, 31, and Aug. 7.  Tickets are $15 for adults; and $12 for children age 12 and under and for seniors age 60 and over.  Tickets are available at 770-663-8989 or online at www.act1theater.com.

ACT1 Theater is located inside the Alpharetta Presbyterian Church, 180 Academy Street in Alpharetta.


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