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Sorkin, Daniels & More Talk Bringing TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD From Page to Stage
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Nov 1, 2022
Previews are currently underway at the Shubert Theatre for the Broadway production of Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, a new play by Aaron Sorkin, starring Jeff Daniels as Atticus Finch. Daniels, Sorkin, and the rest of the company just met the press to talk all about bringing the classic story to life onstage. Find out what they had to say below!
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Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World
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Harper Lees to Kill a Mockingbird has come to Broadway as a brand new play by Aaron Sorkin
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and it welcomes back to Broadway, Jeff Daniels, and a stellar cast
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and I caught up with all of them here at the legendary Sardis. I just want to welcome you back to Broadway as a playwright
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How does that feel? Thank you. It's indescribable. It really is. This is my..
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There's no place I would rather be than a theater. I would be happy in a 99-seat church base spent in Hell's Kitchen
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but being at the Carnegie Hall of Broadway theaters, being at the Schubert Theater
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it's really indescribable. I feel like it was yesterday that I was seeing a chorus line for the fifth time
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This street, 44th Street between Broadway and 8th Avenue, I think it's the center of the universe
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I think it's the greatest piece of real estate in the world. And there is, as much as I love movies, as much as I love television, there's just nothing quite like a new play
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As a friend of mine said before Newsroom, he said, wait till you see what you get to say
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And there are lines in there that only Aaron Sarkin could write
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And that clarity of that it resonates not only for 1934 Alabama, which is where we say it
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and where it is, but you know that instantly it goes and becomes this line
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You know, Atticus is talking about mobs, gangs, mobs. And he says, you know, a mob is a place where people go to take a break from their conscience
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And you're going, well, that's Sorkin. That's Aaron Sorkin right there. And it's just Atticus talking to scout on the porch
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It's just gorgeous. You don't get tired of saying his dialogue. You just don't
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They assembled a team of highly intelligent, both emotionally and intellectually artists
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and collaborators. I mean, I've been so moved. You know, I've worked with Bart twice before
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but I think I had forgotten how much he depends on everyone in the room to influence the person process And Aaron included and Jeff included I mean I think we all understand that because of the
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caliber of artists in the room, we all are really bringing our A-game, and that's a very exciting
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room to be a part of. One of the things that we found beautiful about the book and the movie was, it's like, this
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kind of adoration of Atticus. And in today's climate that we recognize it's kind of this kind of this white
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savior syndrome. And Aaron, to his credit, was very, you know, straight to the point, like, we're not
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going to do that. We're going to, like, we're going to, like, Atticus is going to be a real person who's
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who's, like, complicated and the black people in this play are going to have agency
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and do, and work to also help help themselves. So, like, I think people may be surprised
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but hopefully we've gotten them with giving them a real story that they're with us to the end
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I'm very, very honored to be in it. From the start, when the offer came in, I was sort of blown away that it even came to me
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And then we got the script and we went into these early labs and it was so good on the page that I sort of was like, well, don't tell anybody yet
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Don't tell anybody that you're even in this because you never know. and then it was so good in the rehearsal room
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and then it was so good through tech and now that we're doing it for an audience all of the things and all of the things
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all of the hopes that I had for how it would land are coming true
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and now I can say that it's it's quite a piece of work
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it's a master class I don't want to use these kind of blanket
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generic terms but it's true they're at the top of their game and they are so brilliant
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and so thoughtful and it's just been an amazing process to be enveloped on that
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This is a brand new play. Should people read the book before they go? Should they put it down
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Should they just go and experience? I mean, it's a good question. I think it depends on who you are
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I'm a peers. I like to know everything going into something, so I would read it
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but if you don't want that, you can come in and experience Mockingbird as itself
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It's its own piece. It honors Harper Lee, and it honors what's come before
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but it's also a piece of our time. He has shifted everything around but he stayed true to the story and he lifted so many of the lines and just gave them a twist especially with Calprenia who he has given such agency and such regard to who she is in that
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family. And, you know, her relationship with Atticus and those kids is like, you know, the cornerstone
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of how they are, they are evolving, and the influence that she has on their lives as they've been
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toward justice growing up. I think people are going to be surprised by how
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in 2018 this feels like right now. Like if people are, if someone told you she wrote the book
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six months ago, you would maybe believe it. I think that's sort of what's really staggering
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When I went back to it last year and reread it, I was like, and that's sort of the question the play asked is sort of
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how far, where have we come as a country? If when we dust off this classic thing that we say
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oh wow, wasn't, weren't things crazy then, but you come to see this play
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and I think it makes you think about where we are right now. I play Bob Ewell
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I think he is the most contemptible character I can think of
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especially in this version. He's actually, I mean, I just, I've played some bad guys before
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But this guy makes those bad guys really look like a bunch of people. Boy Scouts
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But he's also complicated and does have dimension and motive. And it's weirdly satisfying
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Just because it's an Aaron Sorkin character at the end of the day. Well, first of all, the Schubert is a big theater
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You know, Iceman was big, but this is big. The Kerr, you know, big, but, you know, it's like nine something, I think, or 11
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This is, like, close to 15, I think. And it doesn't feel like we're performing the play for them
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It feels like we're doing something with the audience. And even folks that don't know the book or the play
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An agent of mine came and didn't know either and was completely blown away and moved by
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I couldn't speak afterwards. It somehow feels maybe it's the moment that we're in right now as a country
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But yeah, yeah, it feels like we're doing something with the audience
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Yeah, I mean, I was quite nervous to walk into a room. I'd add Jeff Daniels to that
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You know Aaron Sark and Bartier and I thought at this level of success Will they be harsh Will they be unforgiving And just right away they told me we here to be your friend to take care of you to support you I mean Aaron has been a cheerleader
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the whole time. Bart has been so kind. And Jeff has just been like, you're doing great. I mean
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so it's just been, that has made this whole experience just so much more special and wonderful
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to be taken care of in that way by the big shots. Well, at first, for me, just a little shy making
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but then you realize, as usually, we're all just there to do the work
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So that's what it was, but it was still pretty thrilling. One of the things when the Lincoln Center was all a buzz
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was when Tom Stopper came down to say hi to Aaron Sorkin
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And they were standing there talking to each other. And do you remember this
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Everybody was going, did you see that? Did you see that? Danny said before, I kind of think if you've read the book at some point in your life
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You don't necessarily need to read it again. If you haven't, maybe
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But I think even if you don't know the story, it comes to life in this way that is just like
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it just blooms in front of your eyes. So I don't think it actually matters either way
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I think I'm going to change my answer and say, I think you should see the play and then read the book
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I don't know why. Because, I mean, you're going to get it. You're going to be able to follow the play
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And then after you see this amazing, what I think is an amazing play, you can read this iconic book and compare
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Well, we did a lot of workshops before, so just the first time I was in the room with them was maybe the most frightening, exciting thing I've ever done
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When Aaron Sorkin walked up to me and said, hi, I'm Aaron, I said, I'm Aaron too
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It was pretty exciting. And then the Aaron's battled from time to time on interpretation
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It's great. It's terrific, you know. They're all three of them, what I call working artists
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That is, not that they get work, but when they get the work, then they really work
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Watching Jeff work on Atticus has been a real treat. Every day he gets deeper and deeper and deeper
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Watching Aaron revise, you know, almost 30 to 40 revisions now. And watching Bart continue to fine-tune all the way through the preview thing
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I love the fact. I love it when I can see people. working and then when they finish you don't see the work. It looks like it was there from the very
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beginning. That's, I love that. Yeah
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