Manatee Players open 'To Kill a Mockingbird'

There is probably no performance in American film history that's more beloved than Gregory's Peck's portrayal of Atticus Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird."

That makes Mark Shoemaker's job just a little tougher. He's playing Atticus in the stage adaptation of "Mockingbird" that opens this week at the Manatee Performing Arts Center. It will be difficult, he allowed, for audiences to see the play and not recall Peck's performance.

"Well, I'm just hoping that nobody has seen the movie," Shoemaker joked. "Or at least that nobody walks away saying 'Well, he's no Gregory Peck.' "

The stage version comes from Christopher Sergel, He's not well known, but he managed to get author Harper Lee's permission to write a play based on her novel. It premiered in 1990.

"You have to believe there were other people who approached her and were turned down," said Preston Boyd, who's directing the Manatee Players' production.

Although Sergel's play is generally faithful to the book, it does make some changes. Most significantly, the story's narrator is Miss Maudie, not a grown-up version of Scout Finch.

Sergel's also has tweaked the theme of the story, so it's a little less about racism in particular, and more about have empathy and understanding for other people generally.

"Mockingbird" opens today in the Bradenton Kiwanis Theater, the smaller space within the Manatee Performing Arts Center. Any show in that space will have a more intimate relationship with its audience than a show in the much larger Stone Hall, but Boyd said the intimacy is heightened in this show.

"That space is immediate," Boyd said " And it's very immediate with 17 people in the cast. That's a really big cast for this space. They're right there with you."

During the trial sequences, Boyd said, Atticus talks directly to the audience as if they were the jury, so the audience becomes part of the play.

"This type of play is exceedingly good in a small space," Shoemaker said.

Besides Shoemaker, the cast includes Eldred Brown as Tom Robinson, the African-American man who's falsely accused of assaulting a white woman.

Brown's theatrical career has mostly focused on musicals, but he appeared as Lucien in the drama "The Boys Next Door" earlier this season.

"After doing 'The Boys Next Door' I wanted to do something else that was pure

acting," he said. "When I heard they were doing this show I came down here to audition. I was late but I got the part."

Actually, Boyd said, all Brown had to do to land the part was show up.

"When I got the call to direct the play, I was concerned about who was going to show up (to audition) for a couple of key roles. One of those roles was Tom and I was hoping Eldred would audition. He was the one I wanted for the role."

Incidentally, Sergel's play will soon have some noteworthy competition. Oscar-winning writer Aaron Sorkin announced recently that he's writing a stage adaptation of "Mockingbird" that will be on Broadway next year.

Details: April 14-May 1, Bradenton Kiwanis Theater at the Manatee Performing Arts Center, 502 Third Ave, W., Bradenton. Show times: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $26-$36. Information: 941-748-5875,

manateeperformingartscenter.com.

Marty Clear, features writer/columnist, can be reached at 941-708-7919. Follow twitter.com/martinclear.

This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Manatee Players open 'To Kill a Mockingbird' ."