Dramaturgical Casebook by Hannah Embree
The Music
Conner Raegan
In the spring of 2020, Tracy and I talked about what it could look like to feature original music played by a live folk band in a production of To Kill A Mockingbird. That summer, I started listening to old American folk music from the 1920's and 1930's. Some artists of the time were familiar: Woody Guthrie, the Carter Family, and Jimmie Rodgers. Others, like Bascom Lamar Lunsford, Clifford Gibson, and Cannon's Jug Stompers were new to me, but quickly became favorites. Through the power of simple melodies, driving rhythms, and homespun lyrics, their songs tell stories of heartbreak, friendship, hard labor, and the American Dream. It became clear that weaving this kind of music into the story of characters like the Finch family, Tom Robinson, and Boo Radley would help us create their world in more than one dimension. Like the rest of the town, the folk band could exist as part of Jean Louise Finch's memory, a conglomeration of her own worldview, imagination, and ponderings.
Due to the university's response to the recent pandemic, we delayed our production until this year. Last summer (2021) after our forthcoming season was announced, I finally put pen to paper and wrote the first song for the play, Alabama Moon. About a dozen others have followed since then, some coming quickly, most over the course of several weeks or months. Some songs might give you a glimpse my own experience; others were written with specific Mockingbird moments in mind. But they are all for this story. Most importantly, they aren't supposed to advance the narrative of To Kill A Mockingbird on stage; we've got actors up there for that purpose. Rather, the music is meant to "fill in the cracks", to allow the audience to mull over a theme or character in the play for a moment longer than they might otherwise.
When the fall semester started, I reached out to a few musicians in the Taylor/Upland community and Bob Davis, Ellen Davis, and Audrey Felger graciously signed on to be band members. Their contributions have elevated a hundredfold all the lyrics and chord charts that I brought to the table at our first rehearsal. It'd all be letters on a page if it weren't for their talent, advice, and passion. My sincerest thanks to all of them for bringing this two-year dream into reality.
Designer Note
As I read the play and story of To Kill a Mockingbird, I was drawn to the idea of Jean’s memory being the inspiration of the story. I was inspired by historic productions from memory plays and deconstructive surfaces in developing this design. When we remember things as adults, we tend to remember key moments rather completely, but the periphery is less defined. We are drawn into this story by Jean who approaches us in the audience on a bare stage lit by footlights and a follow spot as if we are being directly told this story for the first time. The locations appear to come to life as she recalls them throughout the play. The seminal moment of the play, her father Atticus Finch, defending Tom Robinson, is the most completely realized scene of the production. The memory of the trial bleeds back into the rest of her memories of childhood, showing up in the rest of the scenes of the play. You will notice that key structural pieces from events of her childhood are more formed than others and structures seem to appear and disappear when not in focus. Each of the scenic pieces include pieces from other memories, as our memories of the past are never complete, and many events define who we become as adults and how we remember the past. I was inspired by historic productions from memory plays and deconstructive surfaces in developing this design.
Kevin D. Gawley
Costume Designer Note
I have loved this story since I read it in high school and was elated to be invited into this process. Especially since this production aimed to bring more voice, agency, and community to the black characters that seems to be lost in the play adaptation and is one of the main critiques of the book in recent years.
It felt important to me to honor Harper Lee’s character descriptions in the text. Some descriptions are small details like Atticus’ gold collar button and some are broad such as the “sea of denim” that Scout describes the old Sarum bunch as outside of the jailhouse. I found it
interesting in the book the mention of the older ladies in corsets and long skirts that are anachronistic to the 1930s and it felt significant that people stuck in their ways wear clothes that went out of style decades before. The Victorian fashions of Mrs. Dubose and Miss Stephanie are in direct opposition of the delicate, modern, and even gender-defying fashions Miss Maudie wears, and are indicative of their views on old versus new ideals. There were also several
practical elements that affected the costume design such as poverty and heat. Famous photos of farmers in the Depression era American South served as a basis for the costumes. It was important that even the nicest clothes looked well worn and that people looked visually hot and sweaty, especially when sitting in a hot courtroom.
Those who have read the book will remember that it takes place over about three years, while the play adaptation seems to tighten that timeline to about three months. I wanted to show how the lessons learned by Scout and Jem take longer than a few weeks so it was important that we get to see them grow up more than we would otherwise. We see Jem graduate from oversized overalls to a traditional schoolboy look of knickers and tall socks and finally to much more grown up trousers and shirt, while Scout’s stubborn insistence to wear overalls is accommodated by the overalls getting shorter and more worn and well-loved as time progresses. Uniting Atticus and the titular mockingbirds of the story visually felt important to me, especially in the court scene. I elected to do that by color, using a blue-violet gradient into which those characters’ costumes all fell. Following the court scene, I based Jem’s final and most adult look on Atticus’ closing speech look to show the change in his appreciation for his father from the start of the play where he is begging Atticus to be like other fathers to the end where he views
Atticus as more of a heroic figure.
This world has been a delight to help create and I thank you for completing the work that myself, the other designers and creative team, and cast have started.
Bradley Robert Jensen