Auditions

To Kill A Mockingbird

by Harper Lee

dramatized by Christopher Sergel

Directed by Susan Rundle

Performance Dates: 10 May to 19 May (9 performances)

AUDITION LOCATION: Fleigner Hall, Oakleigh East

AUDITION DATE: Friday, 26th January, 1pm - 5pm

SYNOPSIS:

Jean Louise Finch shares her memories of growing up in Maycomb, Alabama, during the summer of 1935. Known as “Scout” as a young girl, the nine-year old’s world is turned upside down when her widowed father, lawyer Atticus Finch, defends a young black man accused of raping a white woman. As tensions erupt and neighbours take sides in the life-and-death case, it is Scout’s clear-eyed courage in the face of ignorance and bigotry that ultimately brings hope to a damaged community.

Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel has captivated readers since 1960 when it was first published at the height of the Civil Rights movement. Set against the backdrop of entrenched prejudices and deep inequality in the segregated world of small-town Depression-era Alabama, its plea for tolerance and human decency helped change the way America viewed itself. Christopher Sergel’s acclaimed adaptation brings to life the compassion, humanity and childish wonder of Lee’s great work.

Scout – a young girl aged 9 or 10

Jem – her brother – aged 12-14

Dill – young boy – aged 12-14

Maudie Atkinson – Neighbours -

Mrs Dubose – Neighbours –

Mayella Ewell – a young woman -

Heck Tate – the sheriff -

Judge Taylor – the Judge -

Mr Gilmer – public prosecutor -

Reverend Sykes – a minister -

Helen Robinson – his wife-

Townspeople & Farmers

To request a copy of the script and to book an audition, please contact the Director, Susan Rundle on theatre@psrundle.com

Descriptions for characters:

Children – need to look the ages indicated:

“Scout” Finch  – Female age 9-10, a young girl about to experience the events that will shape the rest of her life, she should, ideally seem as young as nine or 10. Scout is courageous and forthright. If a question occurs to her, she’ll ask it.

Jeremy Finch (Jem) – Male age 12-14, he is a few years older than his sister Scout, and like his sister – perhaps even more than his sister – he’s reaching out to understand their unusual and thus not conventionally admirable father. Probably the strongest undercurrent in Jem is his desire to communicate with his father.

Charles Baker Harris (Dill) – Male age 12-14, small, blond and wise beyond his years, he is about the same age as Jem. Dill is neater and better dressed than his friends. There’s an undercurrent of sophistication to him, but his laugh is sudden and happy. Obviously, there is a lack of his own home life and he senses something in Atticus that’s missing from his own family relationship.

 Adults – (ages indicative only)

Maudie Atkinson – Female age 45-50, younger than Atticus, but of his generation, she’s a lovely sensitive woman. Though belonging to the time and place of this play, she has a wisdom and compassion that suggests the best instincts of the South and that period.

Mrs. Dubose – Female age 70+, she’s an old woman – ill, walking with difficulty, her pain making her biting, bitter and angry. However, she’s fighting a secret battle within herself, a battle about which few people are aware and her existence has in it a point of importance for Jem and Scout.

Heck Tate – Male age 45-60, the town sheriff and a complex man. He does his duty as he sees it, and enforced the law without favour. The key to this man’s actual feelings is revealed in his final speeches to Atticus, and this attitude should be an undercurrent to his earlier actions.