Aaron Sorkin’s Adaptation of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Swings by Cowtown

Actors Richard Thomas and Jacqueline Williams talk about their roles in the Harper Lee-inspired play currently on tour.

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When asked how she prepared for her role as Calpurnia Coleman in the Aaron Sorkin play adapted from Harper Lee’s famed book “To Kill A Mockingbird,” veteran actress Jacqueline Williams simply said, “A lifetime of being black was preparation enough.”

The issue of race and criminal justice in America, confronted by Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, is summarized by one quote gleaned from a phone call. And that voice is one of the most dramatic differences in Sorkin’s version of Calpurnia and “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

If you are fan of the book or the film — or both — the play is a must. This nearly three-hour adaptation opens at Bass Hall on Sept. 26 and runs through Oct. 1.

It has enough new nuance to it to keep the biggest fan enthralled.

Williams’ Calpurnia has been given more depth as a character. Her interactions with Atticus Finch, played by veteran actor Richard Thomas — John Boy Walton! — reflect modern American society. Together, the two converse as would an old married couple, especially when it comes to their shared concern for the safety of Jem and Scout, Atticus’ children.

Before Sorkin’s adaptation, Calpurnia’s point-of-view was basically nonexistent.

“I couldn’t pretend I was writing it in 1959 when, in a story about racial tension in the Jim Crow South, neither of the Black characters really have much to say about it,” said Sorkin, who’s best known for his screenplays for “A Few Good Men”, “The Social Network”, and “Moneyball” to the San Francisco Chronicle last year. “Using Black characters simply as atmosphere in 2022, it’s not only noticeable but, more importantly, it’s a waste because these two characters’ voices should be heard.”

Says Williams, who was raised in the South: “I always wondered what Calpurnia was thinking while all of this was going on, but no one, that is until Aaron came along, showed audiences what was on her mind.”

Atticus is different, too. Instead of being an all-encompassing figure of moral justice, Sorkin made his Atticus “more complex,” according to Thomas.

“I like the fact that Aaron wrote him to be less of a mythical figure of good and more of a human being,” Thomas says by phone. “Ours is a very different Atticus. Aaron, thank God, has taken him off of his pedestal.”

Thomas says Sorkin wanted his Atticus to be teachable and also have a sense of humor. “Our Atticus isn’t just someone to admire, but also someone you can take the journey in the play with.”

Thomas met the most famous Atticus, Gregory Peck, the star of the film adaptation of Lee’s book, in the latter part of Peck’s life. Peck died in 2003. Thomas says he didn’t use the film or his encounter with Peck to influence his version of what he thought Atticus should be.

Instead, he says his portrayal of Atticus relies very heavily on his losing his sense of societal innocence at the same time as the children, which makes him more relatable to modern audiences. He also added that part of Sorkin’s plan was to make the dialogue between Atticus and Calpurnia fresh to show that Atticus was just an everyday man like everybody else.

“The relationship between Atticus and Calpurnia, along with Atticus and Scout, are really the center of the play,” Thomas says. “It’s an aspirational relationship that shows these two people basically raising these kids together.”

For the character of Tom Robinson, played by Yaegel T. Welch, Thomas says Sorkin made him less of a pawn than he was in the book and film.

“I think [Sorkin] has done a great service to Harper Lee’s characters by enriching them for the stage.”

Although this adapted play boasts a few changes to the characters in the original 1960 book, Thomas and Williams both say they look at the source material differently now any way.

“It’s really like reading two different books,” Williams says. “You see it one way as a kid and as time moves on, you catch things in the book you may have missed due to experience. I see the material in a different light now that I am older for sure.”