Article:9901; Posted: June 29, 2015 at 8:30 a.m.

Some stories are powerful no matter how they are told—whether on page, stage or screen. Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” is one of those stories.

Hope Summer Repertory Theatre opened an adaptation by Christopher Sergel on Friday at its Dewitt Theatre on Hope College’s campus.

This adaptation uses an adult Scout (Ashlee Elizabeth Bashore) as a narrator who stays on the stage and watches the action and brings in some of Lee’s more lush language to describe relationships and scenery. She also introduces us to her younger self, Scout (Ava Britt, a fourth grader at Black River Public School), Jem (Adam Chamness, who just finished 8th grade at Holland High School), Dill (Jack Burkholder, who just finished 6th grade at Harbor Middle School) and all of the rest of the population of Maycomb, Alabama that inhabit this play.

Central to this cast of characters, of course, is Atticus Finch (Mark Kincaid), the widowed father and lawyer who is trying to instill values in his children and is called upon to defend a black man, Tom Robinson (Mychael Thompson) from the charges of raping a white woman.

The biggest weakness in this production was the diction. While everyone maintained consistent Southern accents through the course of the show, it was often rushed and sometimes not loud enough to be heard, especially when actors were turned to one side of the thrust stage or the other.

Kincaid was one of the exceptions to this issue. He spoke clearly and was a powerful force on the stage. He made sure to show all of the different descriptions of him. He was tired and old when Jeb described Atticus as such, but he was also always a man of integrity who could be passionate in his defense of the weak and innocent. He had a strength to him that could be seen in the way he carried himself, the way he spoke and the things he said.

Sierra White’s Calpurnia was also a delightful supporting character and was a proper mother hen every time she was on stage. She even earned applause when she took the three children back to the courtroom muttering all the way in a long cross about how they shouldn’t be allowed to see such things.

Director John K.V. Tammi was able to find the humor in this drama and worked well with the child actors to create scenes that strengthened this coming-of-age story.

The child actors are the main characters in this show and crucial to a successful performance. While they had clarity issues, they were a delightful trio who related well to each other and were good storytellers. They carried their burden well and showed a great deal of confidence and grace. Britt in particular was able to show childlike innocence, affection for her family and a spunky strength when confronted with adversity.

Kristin Ellert’s scenic design was sweeping and tall, with two houses that converted into a courtroom backdrop or a jail as needed as well as a tree that was sufficiently spooky for the Radley house. It worked well with Stephen Sakowski’s lighting design, which was most noticeable in the evening scenes where he balanced darkness with shadows and keeping the main action light enough to be seen.

Jeffrey Levin’s moody sound designs were occasionally executed too loudly and covered up the actors who were speaking.

“To Kill a Mockingbird” continues to be a compelling story as the U.S. continues to struggle with treating people fairly under the law no matter what their color, gender or orientation. We’ve made great strides since the 1930s, and Friday’s opening came on the same day as the historic Supreme Court ruling in favor of marriage equality. It offers hope that perhaps some day, this play will just be a historic reminder of past battles fought.

Run time: 8 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. with one intermission.

SHOW DETAILS:
To Kill a Mockingbird
Hope Summer Repertory Theatre
DeWitt Stage, 141 E. 12th St., Holland
Evenings at 8:00 p.m.; single matinee on July 18 at 1:30 p.m.
$15-$24.00
616-395-7890
Hope.edu/hsrt