Pictures from March 22

It occurred to me early this morning that when our cast is all together again this Sunday, we'll be exactly 20 days away from opening night. We're making progress, but we've got a long way to go. Some actors are off book and others are close. The set continues to come together and by Sunday, we should be pretty close to having all of the pieces assembled -- if not finished!

Plan now to get tickets for the Sugar Creek Players' production of To Kill a Mockingbird. Tickets go on sale Monday, April 11 and the play runs consecutive weekends — April 15-17 and April 21-23.

Damon Lincourt and Matt Mayberry

Jill Rogers and Heather Olin

Sammie Amidon, Damon Lincourt, Trey Rogers

Niki Hutson

Sammie Amidon and Conner Smith

Meet the Cast: Part 2

We want to continue to introduce various members of the cast of the Sugar Creek Players' production of To Kill a Mockingbird. Yesterday, we spent a little time introducing the Finch family — and sidekick Dill. Today, we're pleased to introduce some of the "movers and shakers" of Maycomb, Alabama, circa 1935.

Mr. Gilmer: Our Maycomb prosecuting attorney is Art Lang, who brings a wealth of experience to the stage. Over the last decade, he's been an actor, director, and stage manager for the Sugar Creek Players, Lafayette Civic Theater, and the Purdue Experimental Theater. He's the only member of our cast who has appeared in an earlier production of To Kill a Mockingbird. He played Walter Cunningham and Judge Taylor in the Lafayette Civic Theater production in the mid-1990s. During Monday's read-through, he gave the director chills when he cross examined Tom Robinson.

Heck Tate: If you've never seen the movie or can block it out of your mind, when you read the script for To Kill a Mockingbird, you begin to imagine the perfect Maycomb sheriff. Maybe he's a strong, rugged southerner, or maybe he's a slightly built guy who leads with his badge and gun. But we knew we had the perfect Heck Tate moments after Matt Mayberry read for the part. We read him for a number of roles after that, but we kept coming back to his take on Heck Tate. Matt has no Vanity Theater credits on his resume, other than shuttling his children to and and from the theater. All of us behind the scenes had hoped we would discover some new talent when we staged Mockingbird, and Matt is a picture-perfect example.

Judge Taylor: Crawfordsville natives who have been around the Sugar Creek Players for a few decades will be pleased to know that Stu Weliever has come out of retirement and will return to the Vanity Theater stage as Judge Taylor. Stu is one of the few members of our cast and crew who can recall when the Sugar Creek Players staged productions at Wabash College — back before the historic building at 122 South Washington Street was gifted to the theater company. Stu knows that he was type cast — but not from his previous roles. We type cast him because by day he is a practicing attorney in Crawfordsville and serves on a number of volunteer boards in town. After Stu read for the first time, our Scout Finch piped up and said, "He sounds like a lawyer." Well, that's because he is a lawyer, and he's also going to be a very fine Judge Taylor come April 15.

Miss Maudie Atkinson: This was another role for which we had three or four actresses step up with excellent auditions. We tried several combinations of women in the various roles, and we believe we got every role just right. Heather Jo Olin will appear in her third (straight) Vanity Theater production as the Finch's closest neighbor, Miss Maudie. Heather played (at least) three roles in December's A Christmas Carol, then donned plenty of green as an Ozian in the wildly successful production of The Wizard of Oz. Heather has obviously been bitten by the acting bug, and we're excited to have her in our cast. While there are so many amazing roles in this play, we think Miss Maudie has some of the most important and enduring lines.

Mrs. Dubose: Atticus Finch teaches his son, Jem, a number of important lessons when he "punishes" Jem by making him read to old Mrs. Dubose. Harper Lee and Christopher Sergel imagine an old, cranky lady for us. But we chose a delightful, funny, lively, and humane woman to play the part — Susan "Sue" Rubner. Sue and her husband are not from this area, but have been hard-working, participatory human rights activists in all the cities in which they have lived. Sue has done commercial work in the past, but we're most excited to have her insight when discussing the racial themes so dominant in our script. Sue and her husband have volunteered to help us in our educational outreach efforts, too, so we look forward to that. Sue will get really tired of us saying, "Crankier, Sue. Crankier!

Stephanie Crawford: We had cast 13-year-old veteran Trey Rogers as Dill for our production back in late January or early February. While his mom was shuttling him to and from early pre-rehearsals, she must have gotten excited about the play. Jill Rogers surprised us when she said she planned to audition, but was not at all surprising once she took the stage. She said she'd take any part, but we kept seeing her as Stephanie Crawford, the Maycomb County gossip who knows everything about everyone in town. Jill and Dan's children, Trey and Lanie, have appeared in many local theatrical productions, so Jill is no stranger to the Vanity Theater. She did lots of work in high school, took a break, then returned to the stage one year ago in Beth Swift's amazing production of The Women. 

Meet the Cast: Part 1

Someone wrote me today to suggest that we start to announce and publicize the talented cast we have for the Sugar Creek Players' production of To Kill a Mockingbird.

First, let me again point out that we will have six performances — April 15-16 and 21-23 at 8 p.m. and April 17 at 2:00 p.m. at the Vanity Theater in downtown Crawfordsville. Ticket information will be available soon.

Now, on to the cast (we'll profile everyone over the next week or so):

Jean Louise Finch: The version of Christopher Sergel's stage adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird that we're using features a big role for Jean Louise — or as I've been saying — Scout, all grown up. This character is essentially the narrator in Harper Lee's amazing book. We're excited to have cast Vanity Theater veteran Niki Hutson in this role. Niki has played literally dozens of roles in Crawfordsville, and we're glad she auditioned for our show. Most recently, Niki has appeared in the Sugar Creek Players' productions of The Women ("Hello, Pet"), Noises Off, Female Odd Couple, Miracle on 34th Street, and Arsenic and Old Lace. While she normally gets "type-cast" as the life of the party, we'll see a different side of Niki Hutson as Jean Louise Finch.

Atticus Finch: This was, by far, the toughest casting decision we had to make. We had four talented actors audition, called back three, and eventually made our choice. We are excited that Damon Lincourt has returned to the Vanity Stage to tackle such a challenging role. Damon majored in theater at Northwestern University, bounced around the Chicago theater scene, did some commercial work, and eventually ended up in Crawfordsville with R.R. Donnelley and Sons. He has appeared on the Vanity Stage only once, but his work in Sugar (Some Like It Hot) was remarkable. While he won't wear a dress in Mockingbird, he'll bring exactly the right touch to Atticus Finch. Both of Damon's children (Victoria and Ben) have appeared in Vanity shows, and his wife, Elizabeth, serves on the theater's board, has created amazing sets, and worked with make-up in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Alice in Wonderland. A very talented family!

Scout Finch: Christopher Sergel suggests that this role should be played by an older actress than the movie version. We've chosen Sammie Amidon to tackle the part. She's a high-energy sixth-grader who, at age 11, already has appeared in seven Sugar Creek Players' productions and played Iago in the Tuttle Middle School production of Aladdin. Her favorite roles at the Vanity include the Town's Gal in The Somewhat True Tale of Robin Hood, Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland, Widder Douglas in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and Elf in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. She's also active in choir and Circle the State with Song.

Jem Finch: Conner Smith has been cast as Atticus Finch's son, Jem. Conner has an impressive acting resume at the Vanity Theater, including roles as Huck Finn in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Aslan in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and young Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. Conner is a home-schooled eighth grader, and his parents are the proud owners of This Old Farm near Colfax.

Charles Baker Harris, a.k.a. Dill: While technically not a part of the Finch family, Dill comes pretty close — especially after all of that camel-washing when he moves in and sleeps on a cot in the Finch home. The first time I read the play, one actor popped immediately into my brain to play the role of Dill. I tried mightily to get this thought out of my mind — a director can't pick one actor for a role after the first read. So I read the play again... and again... and again. And the actor who kept coming to mind was Trey Rogers. It was a no-brainer, then, to cast Trey for the part of Scout's "childhood fiance." Trey seems to have been in everything — on stage, in the choir, and in band. He was a very busy White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, had a leading role in Tuttle Middle School's Aladdin, and has too many music and acting credits to list here. Sufficed to say — we're glad he said "yes" when offered the part.

More actor biographies soon!