Celebrating “To Kill A Mockingbird”

More than fifty years after its release, Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird still connects with readers with its themes of family, race, social justice and standing up for what’s right. So it’s no surprise The Big Read Milwaukee chose To Kill a Mockingbird to promote the importance of reading in America.

The Big Read is a program affiliated with the National Endowment of the Arts with a goal to promote reading through programs in selected American communities by focusing on notable literature. In Milwaukee, The Big Read has joined forces with several organizations in celebrating To Kill a Mockingbird. Programs include lectures, read-a-thons, book readings and film screenings. The Milwaukee Repertory Theater is featuring a production of the novel, adapted by Christopher Sergel and directed by Aaron Posner, and its run has been extended through March 11.

“We are getting in all types of audiences,” said Milwaukee Rep Public Relations Director Cindy Moran. “We have families coming to see it, school groups, all ages and all ethnicities. There is great power to this story and clearly it’s resonating with many people.”

Judy Hansen, the Rep’s Board President said, “The Rep has made a strong commitment to deepen its community engagement and outreach initiatives and partnerships, not only with the work that you will see on stage, but in expanding the conversation with the issues and ideas that our creative work explores. Our hope is that with productions like Next to Normal and To Kill a Mockingbird, and the special educational initiatives around them, our audiences are becoming a part of the larger community conversation.”

On Feb. 13, Milwaukee will get two chances to celebrate To Kill a Mockingbird, both of which are free to attend. At 2 p.m., Boswell Book Company will host author and filmmaker Mary McDonagh Murphy. Murphy will give a talk about her book, Scout, Atticus & Boo: A Celebration of Fifty Years of To Kill a Mockingbird, and discuss the novel’s powerful endurance and how it shaped the lives of so many readers. Just a few of the people she interviewed include Oprah Winfrey, Tom Brokaw, Rosanne Cash, Scott Turow and Anna Quindlen. Joining Murphy will be longtime Milwaukee Rep actor Deborah Staples who plays Jean Louise, Scout as an adult and narrator in the Rep’s production.

Boswell owner Daniel Goldin says there has been some positive buzz about this event and hopes attendees will be entertained and enlightened by the discussion. Of To Kill a Mockingbird, he says, “I have numerous customers who tell me it’s their favorite. It’s a book many have read early, and then re-read again and again…there is something to be said that Harper Lee never published again; it puts the book in a sort of legendary status. There’s no follow up book to taint the author’s reputation.”

Also on the 13th, Murphy will show her documentary Hey, Boo: Harper Lee & To Kill a Mockingbird at 7 p.m. at the Milwaukee Rep. The documentary looks at how the novel went from an idea in Harper Lee’s mind to an enduring classic. It details the challenges Lee endured writing the novel and rejection she faced from publishers. Many famous people talk about their love for the novel, and Murphy interviews Lee’s sister, Alice Finch Lee, about her sister’s reticence over being interviewed and why she never wrote another novel.

The Big Read Milwaukee has partnered with many notable organizations to celebrate To Kill a Mockingbird, including the Milwaukee Public Library, Milwaukee Public Schools, Literacy Services of Wisconsin, the Next Door Foundation and Big Brothers Big Sisters.