![]() “And it’s not just our story about racial justice, it’s our story about how we reconcile our aspirations with the reality of our achievements or lack of them. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is a 62-year-old novel about events in a fictional Alabama town almost 90 years ago, but it continues to resonate. (Julieta Cervantes | Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird National Tour) Melanie Moore as Scout and Richard Thomas as Atticus Finch. ![]() And that’s the brilliance of what he’s done.” But first you have to be looking at people you can relate to on stage. “And then we deal with the larger issues of social justice and racial justice and family and childhood. “They’re just flesh-and-blood people on stage,” Thomas said. Sorkin hasn’t just done that for Atticus, Thomas said, but for other characters: The Finches’ housekeeper, Calpurnia the wrongly accused Tom Robinson and Atticus’ children, Scout and Jem. hasn’t changed what happens, but he’s brought him down into the mix and into the community.” In Sorkin’s version, Atticus has “a very vulnerable and beautiful personal story, which is right in keeping with what happens in the plot. What you want to play on stage is a person.” “People say, ‘What does it feel like to play an icon?’ And, of course, you can’t. “He’s brought Atticus down off his pedestal,” Thomas said. The current stage version, adapted from the book by Oscar- and Emmy-winning writer Aaron Sorkin, made the prospect of playing Atticus even more appealing. The character has become an icon through both Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1960 novel and the 1962 film adaptation, for which Gregory Peck won an Oscar. It’s Atticus Finch! Is that a real question?” he said with a laugh. “As far as accepting the role, I mean, come on. In an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune, Thomas said he jumped at the chance to star in the play. Welch as Tom Robinson, Finch's client who is on trial accused of assaulting a white woman, in the touring production of "To Kill a Mockingbird," adapted from Harper Lee's novel by playwright Aaron Sorkin. (Julieta Cervantes | Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird National Tour) Richard Thomas as Atticus Finch and Yaegel T. ![]() A lawyer, he’s assigned to defend a Black man who has been falsely accused of raping a white woman - but it’s Jim Crow-era in the South, and innocence may not matter. ![]() Thomas stars as Atticus Finch, a widower raising two children in 1930s Alabama. He’s also proud of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which runs at the Eccles from Tuesday through Sunday, Sept. I mean, you don’t want somebody yelling it out in the middle of a scene, but that doesn’t happen. He said he thinks the callback is “sweet” and said theatergoers “can do whatever they want as long as they don’t interrupt the performance. Episodes ended with exterior shots of the Walton home as family members said good night to each other, ending with (or, at least, including) “Good night, John-Boy.”Īnd while many actors have been known to resent being identified with a TV role they left behind long ago, Thomas, 71, is not among them. It’s a callback to his Emmy-winning role as the eldest son on the 1970s TV series “The Waltons,” a Depression-era family drama in which he played the family’s eldest son - John Walton Jr., aka John-Boy. ![]()
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