Talent Needed for "To Kill A Mockingbird" Stage Play

Scout as an adult, looking back on the events of her childhood. Jean serves as narrator and also interacts with the remembered world around her; the script specifically suggests that there should be something about her that reminds us of the young Scout. With warmth, intelligence and an ability to speak directly to an audience without making the narration feel literary or detached. Her journey is one of revisiting events she now understands differently as an adult.

The Finch family's Black housekeeper who has effectively helped raise Scout and Jem since their mother's death. Jean remembers her as a strong, formidable presence, while the action shows the affection and responsibility beneath that stern exterior. Calpurnia should have authority with the children and an easy familiarity with Atticus. She also provides an important connection between the Finch household and Maycomb's Black community.

A young man falsely accused of assaulting Mayella Ewell. Hardworking, respectful and fundamentally decent, Tom becomes the focus of the trial. His courtroom testimony is one of the play's major dramatic sequences. Possesses enormous simplicity and emotional truth. His fear in court coexists with dignity.

Tom's wife and mother of his children. A comparatively small role but an emotionally potent one. She must endure the trial while knowing that her family's future is at stake. After the verdict, her grief becomes particularly important. The script's costume notes even suggest dressing her quietly, “almost as though to foreshadow that she's about to become a widow.”

Minister of First Purchase Church and an important representative of Maycomb's Black community. Dignified, compassionate, observant and protective. Early in the play he organizes financial help for Helen and her children. During the trial he watches over Scout, Jem and Dill.

Bob Ewell's daughter and Tom Robinson's accuser. The script introduces her as a poor young woman accustomed to strenuous labor. Mayella should not be played as a villain. She is desperately poor, isolated, frightened, emotionally starved and trapped under the control of an abusive father. At the same time, her accusation has devastating consequences.

Mayella's father. The script calls him a “little bantam cock of a man, ignorant and sharp-tempered.” Impoverished, racist, resentful and volatile, Ewell possesses the dangerous swagger of someone determined to maintain the one bit of social status he believes he has. He becomes increasingly threatening after the trial.

Boo Radley: The mysterious recluse who fascinates and terrifies Scout, Jem and Dill. For much of the play he exists more powerfully in their imaginations than as a physical presence. When he finally appears, the reality of Boo is very different from the monster the children invented. Shy, fragile, gentle and socially isolated, he ultimately becomes their protector. Nathan Radley: Boo's older brother, who moves into the Radley house and essentially takes his father's place.

The Finches' neighbor and one of Atticus's closest allies. Warm, witty, intelligent, independent and refreshingly unsentimental. She understands both Atticus and Maycomb better than most people do and becomes an important adult confidante for the children. After the trial, she helps Jem understand that the verdict does not mean Atticus's efforts were meaningless. A terrific character role requiring humor as well as emotional weight.

The neighborhood gossip. Jean calls her a “neighborhood scold” and the principal source of information about Boo Radley. Opinionated, nosy, talkative and delighted by scandal. She provides considerable humor but also represents Maycomb's tendency to turn rumor and prejudice into accepted fact.

An elderly, ill, cantankerous neighbor who terrorizes Scout and Jem from her porch. The script describes her as “old and bad-tempered,” walking with a cane and sitting in a chair draped with shawls. Beneath her vicious exterior is a woman fighting a difficult private battle, suggesting something more complicated than simply “mean old lady.”

Sheriff of Maycomb County. Practical, straightforward and essentially decent. He is involved in the Tom Robinson case and becomes particularly important again in the final sequence involving Bob Ewell and Boo Radley. He understands that rigid application of the law is not always the same thing as justice.

The judge presiding over Tom Robinson's trial. Experienced, intelligent and less conventional than he may initially appear. He maintains control of a volatile courtroom and has deliberately placed Atticus in the position of defending Tom; Miss Maudie later suggests that this appointment was no accident. Needs natural authority and preferably a dry sense of humor rather than judicial pomposity.

The public prosecutor. Professional, confident and experienced. His questioning of Tom exposes the racial assumptions of the courtroom and the period. He should be played as a credible attorney rather than an obvious villain; that makes the trial much stronger dramatically.

A poor farmer and client of Atticus who cannot pay his legal bill in cash, so he pays with produce and other goods. Atticus treats him with dignity rather than charity. Cunningham later becomes part of the group confronting Atticus at the jail, where Scout's innocent conversation reminds him of his individual humanity. This makes him an important example of one of the play's central ideas: a crowd is composed of individual people capable of making individual choices.