Otselic Valley explores racial tensions in “To Kill a Mockingbird”
SOUTH OTSELIC – You might think it would be difficult for students in an all-white cast to take on the racial issues and tensions portrayed in Harper Lee’s classic “To Kill a Mockingbird,” but the students at Otselic Valley have taken the challenge and will run with it on Friday and Saturday night.
The production is mostly student run. Students are in charge of the lighting, sound and set design. However this year, there is no student director.
“We graduated quite a few leads last year,” said faculty director Michael Foor-Pessin. The lack of a student director led to a different choice of play than in previous years, and the students will be performing a drama instead of a comedy.
Foor-Pessin said this is the perfect year for “To Kill a Mockingbird.” The play hasn’t been performed at OV in 26 years. “I’m excited about the audience reaction to the play now in light of the national elections,” he said.
For the students, the play was more difficult than some because of the serious subject matter. “This was harder than any play I’ve ever done,” said Richard Lapuszynski, who plays Sheriff Heck Tate in the play. “You have to mean it more, because it’s a lot more serious.”
“It’s easy to get a laugh, it’s not as easy to move an entire audience,” said Kaitlynn Mesko, who plays Calpernia.
The cast of 20 students don’t use southern accents or make-up to portray the characters in the play, but rely on their acting alone to show the racial tensions in Alabama in the 1930s.
“To Kill a Mockingbird” is a story about racial tensions in the deep south as viewed through the eyes of two young children, Jean Louise Finch (Scout) and her brother Jeremy (Jem), played by Kaity Davis and Daniel Larkin. Throughout the play, an older version of Jean Louise, played by Ellyn Johnson, is revisiting the event in her mind, watching it now from the view of an adult.
As Scout and Jem’s father, Atticus Finch, played by Tyler Davis, struggles to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, played by Matthew Williams, against the accusations of a white woman, the children finally come to see what their town is like from another person’s point of view.
The students had a unique perspective on the play and said in light of the recent elections, they can see how far the country has come.
The Otselic Valley production of “To Kill a Mockingbird” will be held at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights at the Otselic Valley High School. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $3 for students.
The production is mostly student run. Students are in charge of the lighting, sound and set design. However this year, there is no student director.
“We graduated quite a few leads last year,” said faculty director Michael Foor-Pessin. The lack of a student director led to a different choice of play than in previous years, and the students will be performing a drama instead of a comedy.
Foor-Pessin said this is the perfect year for “To Kill a Mockingbird.” The play hasn’t been performed at OV in 26 years. “I’m excited about the audience reaction to the play now in light of the national elections,” he said.
For the students, the play was more difficult than some because of the serious subject matter. “This was harder than any play I’ve ever done,” said Richard Lapuszynski, who plays Sheriff Heck Tate in the play. “You have to mean it more, because it’s a lot more serious.”
“It’s easy to get a laugh, it’s not as easy to move an entire audience,” said Kaitlynn Mesko, who plays Calpernia.
The cast of 20 students don’t use southern accents or make-up to portray the characters in the play, but rely on their acting alone to show the racial tensions in Alabama in the 1930s.
“To Kill a Mockingbird” is a story about racial tensions in the deep south as viewed through the eyes of two young children, Jean Louise Finch (Scout) and her brother Jeremy (Jem), played by Kaity Davis and Daniel Larkin. Throughout the play, an older version of Jean Louise, played by Ellyn Johnson, is revisiting the event in her mind, watching it now from the view of an adult.
As Scout and Jem’s father, Atticus Finch, played by Tyler Davis, struggles to defend a black man, Tom Robinson, played by Matthew Williams, against the accusations of a white woman, the children finally come to see what their town is like from another person’s point of view.
The students had a unique perspective on the play and said in light of the recent elections, they can see how far the country has come.
The Otselic Valley production of “To Kill a Mockingbird” will be held at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights at the Otselic Valley High School. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $3 for students.
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