Trensch & Scatliffe Open Up About the Importance of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

Welcome to Backstage with Richard Ridge

We are once again at The Legendary Sardis. Harper Lees to Kill a Mockingbird by Aaron Sorkin

has become the most successful American play in Broadway history. It is now in its second year at the Schubert Theater

where it is never played to an empty seat. They have also welcomed some new cast members

including my two guests. So please welcome Taylor Trench, who plays Dill

and Kyle Scatliff, who plays Tom Robinson. Well, gentlemen, this is really thrilling to be sitting with you here at the legendary Sardis

right across the street from your theater at the Shoebert. It's true. Right

You can wave at your... So my first question is, how life-changing is it being a part of this beautiful production of Mockingbird

How life-changing is it? It's pretty wild. For me, it's my first play that I've ever done on Broadway, which is like..

He's like, whee! Yay! So, and it's also a show I did in high school

So it was really cool that my first play was a show I did in high school that was one of the first shows that made me want to do this as a profession

And it's pretty amazing to have a story that that many people love and that many people want to come see on Broadway

And, you know, the show lights out. It's making so much money that you're just kind of like, wow, oh

It's like it becomes a groundswell of a kind of a beautiful moment that Broadway happens

has every once in a while, and this is such a special moment in itself being, you know, the most lauded play

So it's great. It's so rare to be a part of something that's, like, financially and critically the most successful American play in Broadway history

but then also to be a part of something that's very meaningful, that there's, like, we're hopefully inspiring audience members to, like, stand up and take action and make a change

But see, that's what I love when I walk by the Schubert Theater. You have every demographic, every age range

Like everybody I talked to, I'm like, what are you going to see? We're going to see a Mockingbird or we're trying to get ticket to see to kill a Mockingbird

That must be so great, like you were saying, to want to see a play

Yeah, yeah. It's interesting, actually, in the past week, there are people I bumped into at the stage door

that were like, we're making choices between plays, and we didn't know what to watch, and they came into our show, and you'd see them at the door, and they're so glad we made that choice

I was just like, oh, that's great. Yeah, take that. Frozen. You have friends in that show, too

Yeah, me too. I'm actually done. Can someone get me ticket? And they're right next door

They're right next door, yes. So what was your first introduction to Mockingbird

Was it the book or was it the film? I read the book, I think, three times throughout school

I read it in fifth grade, and then again in middle school and then in high school. And my mom, it was very important to her, and the film was as well

So then she introduced me to the film. And it was always, I'm so lucky I read it so early because as a white person, it was like the first time I became fully aware of the fact that there are two systems of justice in this country for people depending on your race

So I'm glad that I found it as early as I did. And yeah, I've seen the movie also a dozen times. I think it's so beautiful

Yeah, yeah. I came across the play first because, you know, high school did the play

And then I read the book while I was in the play, and then I saw the movie

And, of course, the movie is a classic. It's like, I've seen it several times throughout my life

And I've always found it to be a really, a really interesting scope into the world of world that you don't know in a world that's hard to know

because we're so far ahead in the future now. but it always became such an incredible thing to actually see

Because when I was younger, I didn't see a lot of those things. And the internet isn't as prevalent as it is now

When it comes to being able to see injustice, and I wasn't much of a news watcher either

So watching the movie, it was one of the first times I saw representation of that

and what that means and what we can do to try to stop it

it's more relevant now than it was when it was written, which is really scary

What does that mean to working on this? I know it's so crazy that it was written in the 60s

about the 30s, now we're in 2020. Aaron Sorkin has said he's taken lines

he's taken comments from Breitbart and put them into the play and assign them to characters

and they don't sound out of place, like they make just as much sense in the 1930s as they do now

It's horrifying. Yes. It's a scary. concept but it's um it sometimes I like to think that you know things become more

relevant because those things are dying out hopefully and sometimes that's the

backlash of it's like the last scream of a dying dying moment and that's kind of

how I look at it at times where you the I feel like the country as a whole is

started especially with the youth that are coming up are leaning further and further

or further left and it's kind of like the last dying out yell of a time period that we

don't know much about and kind of don't understand but also we're like why did you do this in

the first place yeah um so so that's the hope at least these are such coveted roles

how intense was the audition process for you two it was yours like i she don't even i

didn't have to audition i was very lucky I got invited to read the very first draft of the script

Aaron and Bart invited me to read, and Scott, invited me to read the very first draft

And it was me and Celia Keenan and Bulger and Will Pollen and Jeff Daniels and La Tanya

a lot of the original gang. And they told the three of us Celia Will and myself, they were like

it's not going to be you guys, we're going to get nine-year-olds, like, fat chance

Get out of here. But we read the script and we were like so mad

We were like, gosh, darn it. We're just like 10-year-old is going to get to play this incredible part. And then at the end of the reading, Scott changed his mind and decided it could be adults

Yeah. But I'd already signed on to Dearvin Hansen, so I took that for a year

And it was lucky that they asked me to come back and replace Gideon when he finished his brilliant Tony nominated for

Yeah. That's great. And for you, Kyle. I was on tour with Hamilton for a year

It's a great show. Heidi recommend him. For a year and a half

Another tough ticket. Yeah, exactly. Exactly, and I was coming off tour, I believe it was August

So it was my last little stints on tour were in Memphis

and I had three weeks left to tour, got this email for an audition

and they were like, hey, they'd like you to send in the tape. And I was like, oh, okay, cool, sure

So I sent the tape in and, like, don't hear anything for a week, and I'm like, all right, that's done

Like, you know what I'm not getting that. And a week later, I'm talking to my manager

and she's like, I actually was still in the running for that. I was like, really? Okay

I was like, it's been two weeks, but all right. So, and so like literally, like the day after she told me that my agent's coming

they're like, so you got it. And I was like, what do you mean? They're like, yeah, they cast you

I was like off the tape what are you talking about I was like there was no like callback or anything And I was kind of like confused about it because I was like what are you what going on here And I like well wait I was like

Scott doesn't even know who I am. Like, you know what I mean? Like, it's, it's, again

and I never worked with Bart, and it was actually kind of one of those funny things

and I always tell students this. I'm like, be good to the people you work for

So true. Because you never know, because literally the next day, Tommy was coming to do, like, you know

he comes to the, uh, to the, uh, Tommie Kale. Yeah, Tommy Kale does his good old directing thing

And he sees me, he goes, hey, congratulations. And I was like, how do you know

And he's like, you know, it just kind of shrugged. And I was like, somebody called you and asked

Like, it's like, people are, you know, it's always that, you know, old adage

you know, be a good employer, be a good person to work for

and because people will eventually have to ask those people if they want to cast you

So the thing that was crazy about is that, But after all that happened, I was literally going to be on stage in two weeks from the moment that they had auditioned me

So that I got the part. So basically, Bango was getting a knee surgery and they needed someone to go on for possibly two weeks

And then it was being 10 shows over a week and a half. And I did it

It was crazy. So I had one week of rehearsal with Jeff and Bart and learned everything and did the show

So you went into the show first. Yeah, for 10 shows, and then I came back for the six months, yeah

Okay. Before we get into characters and stuff, these are such beautifully written roles

What do you remember about that first night on stage for you in Mockingbird and the first night for you on stage in Mockingbird

Basically, stare at Jeff Daniels' eyes and say your lines. Like, you know, it was a thing that he was saying to me, too

when we had a rehearsal on the Thursday before I went on on the Tuesday

and he was just like, it's you and me like, you know, it's us together. Don't worry about any of those people

out in the audience. Don't worry about any of that. It's just you and me. Oh my God. I'm worried about you because you're Jeff Daniel

Exactly. Don't worry. He's like, it's just you and me and that's it

And I said, okay. It's kind of crazy because like you don't really remember much

I just said it all and did what I was supposed to do. And took a bow

Yeah, and about. And it was crazy because when he came to do

He was about, he kind of looked at me, and he was just like, good. And I was just like, ah

It's like you feel proud. You're like, oh, I've made my father proud. What was your first one like

We had an invited dress, which is so rare for a play that Artie is up and running

and it was like an electrifying performance. I remember that it was so many, like, theater industry types in the audience

and it just felt really supportive, and people were screaming at the top of their lungs. It was like the closest we've gotten to Madison Square Garden

you know, around kind of people just, like, so thrilled to be there. All right. Well, let's get into Madison Square Garden

Sure. That has to have been the most life-changing moment in your career

Probably will ever be to do a play at Madison Square Garden, right

The first ever, 18,000 students. All right, favorite memories of that day

There must be so many for the two of you. Let's start with that. Oh, my God

Okay, so, um, first off, just, when we were walking to the VOMs before the show started

And as you were walking to the bombs, and you can hear the murmur of just, like, conversation and talking and how, like, just what 18,000 people sound like

and then we got to the bomb, and you could just see all of them, and the garden was full. And it was just, like, there's a picture

On the Mockingbird Instagram, actually, of a couple of us just kind of standing there, like

is me and Dakin and Russell, just like, what? Because I've never seen anything like it

You know, I've had the pleasure to do a lot of cool things in my career

but that was something that I couldn't have imagined, and I'd never seen anything like it in my life

And it was like that moment, and then, like, a lot of the ways that the students

were responding to a lot of the lines were things that I couldn't even dream of

amazing, yeah, especially like the first time Bob Yule goes to the porch

And like I'm just the kind of backstage, like, you know, they're going to, they're about to find out with his place about, you know, it's like you have all of the setup and you may have like the sheriff referring to me, you know, using the N-word because it's like that's what Bobby Will said

But to have the actual man himself stand on stage in front of Atticus and spew that kind of hatred, you could just feel all of them kind of like start to slowly lean in just like, what

And it was just like, because they'd read the book and they know what it is and the amount of silence

that was in that room because of how well they were listening

it was unbelievable. It was unbelievable. It was truly an incredible experience

It was extraordinary. There was a high school choir that sang from Brooklyn. He was saying before the show all

every single person in the cast was like, before it even started

He was literally sitting there going, think terrible things. Because I was like, I don't want to get lost in this moment

It was beautiful, but I was like, we got a thing. I got a thing. But it was, yeah, that was

It was so beautiful. Like, the soloists were incredible. I was like, is someone here to give them recording contracts

They were so good. That was a highlight. And, yeah, like Kyle said, just hearing 18,000 people react, they were so engaged

I had this, I guess I expected, like, thinking about myself when I was, like, 13, 14

Like, I was so dumb. Like, if someone was like, you have to see a play for three hours, I'd be like, ugh

But they were so engaged. they were such good listeners and they would get so vocal and excited whenever someone stood up to injustice or like one of the like vile racists in the play but then they also like just as loudly reacted when someone had empathy like there's a moment in the second act of the play where like two characters embrace and atticus gives me a kiss on the head at one point in the second act and it was like just as loud for that and that was like so special to hear this new generation of people who care just as much about fighting as they do also like create

a world that makes room for everybody. I want you to think about the power of the individual to make a change in society

The only way to change the world is if you decide it is your world to change

Don't let anybody tell you that you can't be an artist. Well, let's go back to

Well, let's go back to characters

These are such beautifully written roles

Talk about who you each play and what you've learned about yourselves from playing these roles

I play Tom Robinson. He is the accused of the show. This role now especially has been really helpful for me especially in this year when we in the middle of an election And because I always have this part of me that and this is kind of I said this on

Instagram the other day too, is like, while doing the role, you start to realize that you are

you're kind of living your character's life in the 20, in like, you know, 80 years ahead

in a strange way where you feel like you're caught in between two factions of people that are

fighting each other, but you have nothing to do with the fight that they're having

You know, it's like, it's this thing where, and I always look at that with like Bob Ewell and

Atticus Finch, and like, you know, Atticus thinking that everything is exactly the way he thinks

it is, and Bob saying, you know, this is what I believe, and they're constantly fighting

and they're fighting over not only you as a person, but you as an ideology

And it's a very odd thing because that's exactly what's happening now all the time

And it kind of weirds me out when I start to realize that more and more on a daily basis while we're doing the show

That, you know, growing up black in America, that is kind of the struggle we're in where we don't know who we're supposed to trust or who we're supposed to look to for help

And you're, you know, at the end of the day, the only thing you can help is yourself

and that's kind of, you know, what's helped me get to, even that part of the show

where he figures out what dignity is for himself because he's just caught in this whirlwind

of a war between all these people and he's just trying to be a good person

And I connect with that a lot. We're just trying to be a good person

and trying to make the world a better place but you're also constantly being hit at all sides

with social problems all the time. Yeah. Beautifully put. I agree. I don't want to go now

Oh, no. Sorry. Tarn it. I play Dill, Harris, Charles Baker Harris

He is the best friend of Gem and Scout. He's my favorite

He's like a tender clown, which is who I tend to play

like someone who's a little dim ready to laugh he is wonderful

I love him so much he's like we've I didn't write the play at all

Aaron Sorkin the brilliant Aaron Sorkin also has like interpolated bits of Truman Capote's life

into the character because Harper Lee and Truman Capote were childhood best friends

and he's based on Truman Capote and so we've Aaron is like taken

sort of what has become of Truman Capote and his own life life and put a little bit of that into the character to further enrich in his life

which is so much fun. I think he's, like, cracked me open a little bit. I tend to be like this

with people, and he is so open-hearted and optimistic, and I feel like he's helped me be more

open in the world. Beautifully put, too. Hey, thanks. You're welcome. What's it like living in the

words of Aaron Sorkin? Yeah, oh, my God. That's like, it's like a fan girl over him sometimes

I don't know if he knows that. I never tell him that. I just, you know, when you meet him, you're like

I'm so glad to be working on anything you write. I mean, you could write something on a napkin right now

and I will go up and present him. Like, his writing style has always been one of my favorites, you know

from West Wing, Social Network, anything he's ever created. It's always been a dream of mine to work with him

It's just hilarious because I never like really do this. Like I'm like, ah, I panned all over him

I literally do it. He has no idea. I've never told him, don't watch this interview. He's going to see him right now

He's probably going to see he's watching it right now. He's like, oh. Never been with that guy again

But there's always been, everything that we were taught in school at Amdo, you know

about being dead little perfect and like, and timing and things of that. And I know how important those things are to him

And I know how important those things are. were to Jeff as well when I first came in

So that was like, even like, as soon as I found out I had it, it was just like, okay, I'm going to have this memorized by Tuesday

Like, you know what I mean? Like, you just, it's the kind of writing that you get up in the morning

wanting to portray. It's incredible. I, it's just a way that he can mix comedy with terror, with horror

and like how even in the middle of a scene where something, truly horrible is happening

He finds the light in those moments that can give the audience that

breathe her just for a second enough so he can throw the rest of it down there

throw it immediately. You know what I mean? It's truly, yeah, I'm very happy

You're so right. There's also just like no better American writer, I think, to write a play that takes place

in and around a courtroom. Like there's just no better mind to do that. And we're so very lucky to be doing this play

Yeah. You're working with one of the most brilliant directors. I mean, Bart Share, hands down

one of the most sought app of directors. What makes him so wonderful to work with

His gorgeous locks. Well, those two. Yeah, of course. They're always flowing

Flowing, softened pepper. He is, I feel like I always hear this term

like an actors director, and I don't really know what that means. And then working with Bart, I was like

oh, he's that. He cares so, he likes working with actors. I think that's not always the case

Like, Bart really loves actors and loves working with actors, and he's so attentive and detailed and smart

It's like, yeah, he's, I don't know, he's the best. He's so good. Yeah, one of the cooler things about him that I've, you always notice when he's in the

middle of directing, is like he's directing it, directing it, and then even if he like turns

his back on it, he's still listening to it. He's still listening to it, and he's like almost looking at other people in the room that are listening to it too just to see their

reactions and gauge. And he's always, he's so good at, um, he's still listening to

engaging a room and understanding what needs to be done in order to not only make the audience

happy and get it, but also to get each individual actor to that place

I think that's what I like about him the most is that he doesn't expect you to be like

any of the actors that have come before or the ones that will come afterwards. He just kind of, he finds what that part is inside of you as a person

So because of that, he could direct 10 different versions of this

and I think all of them would look slightly different in their way, in that way. And he will

He will. Yes, he will. He will. Yeah, you're so right. He is so open to, it's almost an entirely new cast

and you've lived inside of the previous version, and I got to see it as an audience member

and it feels so totally different from that version, and it's still as effective and works

which is like such a testament to him, I think, and his eye. Because now you have the brilliant Ed Harris play Atta case

So, like, because you played it with Jeff, and now you're playing it with Ed

and now you're playing it with Ed. I mean, I love Ed Harris. So what's it like sharing the stage with him and your other new fellow cast members

He's totally different from Jeff Daniels. That's what's so cool about it

It's like how you can find a character in someone and how totally different it could be

And the perspective he comes at it with. He has this stage presence that I on a daily basis I sure staring at him basically trying to figure out how the hell to do what he doing because he has this this presence of not only

being extremely attentive to what's happening in front of him but there's this

and I don't know if it's confidence or if it's maybe it is confidence there's this

confidence of like knowing all eyes are on him and he just kind of like, it's just what it is

You know what I mean? And it's, it's that true moment of like looking at an actor and being like, you are so

present right now and you are also at the same time commanding so much of this space

But you're not even, you're barely doing anything. It's something really incredible about that

That's some, it's really special when you come across someone like that

Yeah, he's, he's an intense dude. I love him. He's really fun to work with. Yeah

He's amazing. It's like he feels silly to say that he's talented, but he's so

apostorously good in the play. He's so grounded and like everything is so crystal clear

And yeah, you're so right. Like all these eyes are on him. He's above the title

People are coming to see Ed Harris. There's so much pressure on him. But he's always like so relaxed, so present

He takes it so seriously. Like he always wants to do a good job, but it also can be so playful on stage

He's like, there just hasn't ever been. a better scene partner in my acting career

He's so good. Well, you know, so much of this has to do with the brilliance of Scott Bruton

I mean, no one produces the show the way Scott does, down to the finest detail of everything about a show

I mean, I knew when you were all going in, this new company, I mean, you got four weeks of rehearsal

That's right. Yeah, four weeks. That's not heard of it. I know Sonia Freedman does it, but there are very few people

You should get, like, you know, a week of putting in your eye. I mean, talk about, you know, the brilliance of Scott

was it did it make it a little easier having four weeks to sort of work yourself into this production

yes definitely i mean especially with a it was like a most of the print well all the principal

were new so um and there were a couple of things that we needed to figure out as well um because

russell harford who plays linked ease of course is um he's a deaf actor so you know we had to

figure out how do we incorporate sign language into the show and how do we basically pull everyone into this world together

so we all not only know what we're about to do on stage

but we're all on the same page. And, you know, it's a testament to the ensemble as well

because they did the show at night at the same time as they were coming to rehearsal during the day

and also to Neil, who plays Bob Ewell, who's playing Ling D's at night

and then doing Bob Eel during the day during that whole process

So it was a whirlwind of a process, but it was the four weeks were definitely needed

And it was a pleasure to have them. I mean, thank you, Scott, for that

Yeah, yeah. It let us take ownership over the show in a wonderful way

Like you said, I don't think I've replaced before, and you've replaced before

When you're sort of just thrown into the mix into something that's already up and running

you are just trying desperately not to mess anybody up. Yeah. So to have four weeks to what felt like create a new play was so we were so lucky to have that

Now, who gets to the theater first? Who likes to get there early? You probably get there earlier than I do

You're coming from New Jersey. Yeah, I think I get there like a half, like 15 minutes, half hour. Before a half hour

Yeah, yeah. I usually come to the city, I eat, and then I go to the theater. Okay. So I end up there

So you have dinner before? Yeah, yeah, yeah. How early do you get to the theater? I'm like running through the door

as they're calling out of her. Are you serious? I know. Taylor, true

Oh, there are a lot of people. Oh, I'm a disgrace. Oh, no. No, there are a lot of stars

Stocker Channing is one at host. She told Mr. Richard, I like to go in right before. put the wig on and just go on

Me too. Yeah, the waiting around sometimes those get to. It was like, you know, you kind of

if you get there too early, because I'll get there and I'll just be sitting in my chest room, staring at the news

Okay. Just like, all right, come on. Like, you know, just like waiting for the show to happen

But some people like that prep time, like to be in their area, but you like to just get there

I think I've been lucky enough to be working in theater here in New York for 10 years

and I love this city, but Times Square is the largest place on Earth

And so the least amount of time I can spend walking through people in Times Square is good for me

Honestly, I agree. Is it happy for you to be back at the Schubert where you were with Hello Dally when you walk in that stage door again

Yeah, I did Matilda at the Schubert as well. So it's my third time. They can't kick me out

I'm like going to haunt that theater. Do you the same dressing room? No, I've really, I've kind of bounced around

I started in the basement where a rat ran across my foot once. Okay. During Matilda

During Matilda. Okay. It was the Monson. A room. A little room. Old dressing room for Hella Dolly, right

Yes, and I was on the tippity-topped for, Rekyllis now. Okay, you're in his dressing room

So my asthma was bad, but my bones were tight. And then now I'm sort of in the middle of my own dressing room

Not sure to anybody, it feels very, I feel like Dr. Pan is. So you have to bring him up to his old dressing room

and he has to do some Hello Dolly for you because he was done. Please do. His part of you was great

Okay. If you could sum up the best part of experience of being a part of the show

it's right across the street, mockingbird as you're looking through the window. Taylor track

Oh, man. You know, for me, the best part of almost every theater experience

and it's such an odd thing to say, but I think I love the community aspect of putting a show together with everybody

and when a cast does a really good job of making sure that aspect is a beautiful thing offstage

the work on stage tends to, you know, grow for that because the more comfortable you feel with those people

the better it becomes. And I've really had the pleasure of being in a lot of cast

that had that aspect to them. And as far as I've seen, every time that's happened

the show has done really well. So I feel like from the top down

you have this aspect of knowing that we're all in this together

and we could do wonders to create something that can help change people's mindsets

or change the world in such a way. Sure. Yeah. For you, sir

Can I do a tie answer? Yeah. It's tied between the people we get to work with the cast

I get to be on stage of so many people I've been a fan of for a long time, including Kyle

Kyle, Lisa Gaye Hamilton, Ed Harris, Russell Harvard, like Dakin, Matthews, Chris Invar

There are so many people that I've loved that I've seen in show. shows and like when I saw Kyle McCuller Purple I left like screaming I was just like

who is that so that is like I'm just so lucky to be working with so many actors I admire

and then also to be doing a play where hopefully we're inspiring audience members to go out into the

world and every day take steps to dismantle a system of oppression the cool the cool thing about

that is I saw him in Curious Incident and have the same moment I think it was the first time he went on too

I believe it was the first time he went on. Then went there, me and my friend Bree went and watched it

and I was like, that kid was amazing. I was like, who is that? And then when I saw your name, I was like, I know that

I was like, wait a minute. I was like, oh, yes, awesome. I can't wait to work with him

And now look where you are. Yeah, no, it's cool. It's sarty. I have had the best time sitting with the two of you

You're at the top of your game, doing the best of what you do, and thank you for sitting with us today

Thank you. No problem. Thanks for having to you