Broadway NewsNew Cast of Broadway’s To Kill a Mockingbird Begins Performances November 5Taylor Trensch, Nina Grollman, Kyle Scatliffe, and more take over in the play’s second year.
By
Ruthie Fierberg
November 05, 2019
Taylor Trensch, Nina Grollman, and Kyle Scatliffe
Beginning November 5, Broadway’s To Kill a Mockingbird features a new ensemble at the Shubert Theatre.
While Ed Harris and Nick Robinson will take over as Atticus Finch (a role originated by Tony nominee Jeff Daniels) and Jem Finch, respectively, Juilliard graduate Nina Grollman will take on the role of Scout Finch and Dear Evan Hansen alum Taylor Trensch will take on Dill Harris.
Grollman made her Broadway debut in the 2019 revival of The Iceman Cometh, starring Denzel Washington. She replaces Tony Award winner Celia Keenan-Bolger. Trensch, who previously performed as Barnaby Tucker in the revival of Hello, Dolly!, replaces Tony Award nominee Gideon Glick.
As penned by Aaron Sorkin, the Scott Rudin-produced Mockingbird is told as a memory play, with Scout probing the memories of her childhood to figure out what really happened during that fateful summer in Maycomb, Alabama.
Based on the novel by Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird chronicles the trial of Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Atticus is set to defend Tom during the age of the Jim Crow South.
Also joining the cast are LisaGay Hamilton as Calpurnia, the Finch’s faithful housekeeper. The role was originated by Tony nominee LaTanya Richardson Jackson. Kyle Scatliffe, who recently departed the Broadway production of Hamilton, where he played the dual roles of Lafayette/Jefferson, will play Tom Robinson. Scatliffe has also been seen on Broadway in the 2015 revival of The Color Purple as Harpo.
Australian actor Eliza Scanlen plays his accusor Mayella Ewell. Scanlen will appear alongside Saiorse Ronan and Timothée Chalomet as Beth March in the Greta Gerwig-helmed Little Women. Original cast member Neal Huff, who created the role of Mr. Deas, moves to the role of Bob Ewell, Mayella’s father.
Russell Harvard now plays Link Deas and Boo Radley. (The role of Boo Radley had been originated by Danny Wolohan.) Harvard made his Broadway debut as the Adult Men in the Deaf West revival of Spring Awakening. Earlier this year, he played the Duke of Cornwall in the Rudin-produced King Lear, starring Glenda Jackson.
Ted Koch, also from the original cast, moves to the role of Mr. Cunningham. M. Emmett Walsh takes on the role of Judge Taylor. Patricia Conolly plays bitterly bigoted widow Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose, while Manoel Felciano plays Atticus’ opposing counsel Horace Gilmore. Christopher Innvar steps in as Sheriff Heck Tate, and William Youmans performs the double role of Mr. Roscoe and Dr. Reynolds.
Liv Rooth remains with the production as Miss Stephanie, along with ensemble members Rebecca Watson, Aubie Merrylees, David Manis, Baize Buzan, Steven Lee Johnson, and Geoffrey Allen Murphy. Newcomers to the ensemble are Rosalyn Coleman, Gene Gillette, Luke Smith, and Yaegel T. Welch.
To Kill a Mockingbird opened at the Sam S. Shubert Theatre December 13, 2018. Directed by Bartlett Sher, the production was nominated for nine Tony Awards: Best Direction of a Play, Best Scenic Design of a Play for Miriam Buether, Best Costume Design of a Play for Ann Roth, Best Lighting Design of a Play for Jennifer Tipton, Best Sound Design of a Play for Scott Lehrer, Best Performance By an Actor in a Leading Role for Daniels, Best Performance By an Actor in a Featured Role for Glick, Best Original Score for Adam Guettel, and a win for Best Peformance By an Actress in a Featured Role for Keenan-Bolger.
A national tour has already been announced; it will kick off August 25, 2020, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., starring Tony nominee Richard Thomas as Atticus Finch. A London production is also in the works.
WATCH AARON SORKIN’S FULL INTERVIEW ONWRITING MOCKINGBIRD, ITS SIMILARITIES TO THE WEST WING, AND MORE:
