Index
(and links to less active productions at bottom of the index
page)
Abe Lincoln in the 21st Century
| Coming Together Coming Apart
| To Kill a Mockingbird
| The Dickens!
Fred and Adele Astaire: The Last Dance
| Mark Twain: Telling Tales
| The Belle of Amherst
| Fahrenheit 451
Study in Scarlet | Joy
Comes in the Morning | Wait
Till Next Year
David
Houston and Diana Heinlein in
a Performance Reading
In the Style of Radio Drama from
To
Kill a Mockingbird
by
Harper Lee
Script
Adaptation by David Houston
An
hour-long dramatization from the Pulitzer Prize winning
novel,
with background music from Elmer Bernstein's
haunting score for the film.
The program features The Trial of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of a crime he did not commit, seen through the eyes and actions of
Atticus Finch, his defense attorney, and Finch's 9-year-old daughter
Scout. A meaningful look at the misguided American South of
the 1930s, sometimes violent, sometimes gentle and wise.
For
the many devotees
of the book and film, and also a presentation worth
considering for Black History Month in February, Women's
History Month in March; for schools with the book in their
English Curriculum, and for organizations, libraries and
schools participating in the "Big Read" initiative
of the NEA.
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Diana Heinlein Reviewing a recent
production of The Tale of the Allergist's Wife,
LONG ISLAND NEWSDAY said, "Diana Heinlein is solid and hilarious
at the center of the angst-ridden comedy; watching her wallow in comic pathos in the Long Island
premiere of Charles Busch's lively surprisingly
complex comedy is a delight." About her
performance as Bella in Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers, THE
SUFFOLK COUNTY NEWS said, "Diana Heinlein offers a
performance so moving that the swing of emotions will
leave you dizzy." Diana has acted myriad leading and featured
roles in other Simon classics including
Mrs. Banks in Barefoot in the Park, Kate in
both Broadway Bound and
Brighton Beach Memoirs,
Cookie in one production of Rumors and Claire
in another, and Florence in the female version of
The Odd Couple. She stars in a touring
production of Houston's The Ghost of Dorothy
Parker. Other memorable portrayals include Annie Sullivan in The Miracle
Worker, and Maggie in Dancing at Lughnasa.
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David Houston
—has appeared in
leading roles in scores of plays and musicals,
including Friar Lawrence in Romeo and Juliet,
Senex in A Funny Thing, Ben in Death of a Salesman, Herr
Shultz in Cabaret and Horace in
The Little Foxes.
He is a published and produced writer of fiction and non-fiction.
His original plays— including Let's Do It!, The Last Dance,
The Ghost of Dorothy Parker, Murder and Madness and Poe, and The Dickens!—have been seen at a
number of
Long Island theatres, schools and libraries. His Joan
Crawford biography Jazz Baby (St. Martin's
Press) was optioned for movie production, as was
his mystery novel Shadows on the Moon (Leisure
Books). Other performance readngs for Long
Island libraries and schools include Steinbeck's Travels
With Charlie, Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes novel Study
in Scarlet, and for "Long
Island Reads" 2008 he presented selections from Aloft,
a novel by Chang-rae Lee with a contemporary Long
Island setting. |
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CONTACT INFORMATION
Package
includes actors, technician, reading stands, music/effects
equipment,
and travel (Long Island);
facility is asked to supply an 8x12 acting area,
basic lighting, and amplification if the space is large
The Performance runs about 65 minutes
For
more information and to secure bookings except school
performances, contact:
David Houston (516) 293-2693; DH@davidhouston.net
For more information and to secure bookings for school
performances, contact:
Sue Jeffares at Airport Playhouse, Bohemia (631) 589-7588; AirportPlayhouse@aol.com
SCROLL
DOWN OR CLICK THESE LINKS
Scheduled
Performances
Biography of Harper Lee
Plot Summary
Comments and Reviews
SCHEDULED
PERFORMANCES
2009
Jericho Public Library, Tuesday February 3, 2:00 p.m.
John Jermain Memorial Library, Sag Harbor, Saturday
February 14,
2:00 p.m.
Port Washington Public Library, Friday September 25, 12:15 p.m.
2008
Freeport
Memorial Library, Wednesday May 21, 7:30 p.m.
John Jermain Memorial Library, Sag Harbor, Saturday June 7, 2:00
p.m.
Middle Country Public Library in Centereach, Thursday August 21,
4:00 p.m.
Longwood Public Library, Sunday September 21, 2:00
p.m.
|
Harper
Lee and
The
Best Novel of The Century
By
David Houston
1960
2007
Nelle Harper Lee (Nelle
to friends and family) was born
April 28, 1926, in
Monroeville, Alabama—the youngest of four children. Her father was a lawyer
who served on the Alabama State Legislature and a
newspaper editor and businessman. Following in his several
footsteps, Nelle was an avid reader and, when she attended
the University
of
Alabama
as a law student, she edited the school’s humor magazine
and contributed articles for that and other publications.
She did not complete her law degree and instead moved to New York City
in 1950, where she wrote essays and short stories about
racial inequality and made ends meet working as an
airlines reservations clerk.
Vowing to become the
Jane Austin of the American South, she quit her job at
Eastern Airlines in 1956, accepted the gift of a year’s
income from friends, acquired an agent, and within a year
had a first draft of To
Kill a Mockingbird—which she completed in the summer
of 1959. Semiautobiographical, the novel drew on Lee’s
“tomboy” childhood for her main character, 9-year-old
Scout, on her father for the character of Aticus and his
courtroom experiences for the trial of Tom Robinson, on
relatives and neighbors in small-town Alabama —including
a mysterious man who was the basis for Boo Radley, and her
childhood friend Truman Capote, who inspired the character
of Dill. Capote returned her compliment when he used
memories of Nelle for Idabel in Other Voices Other Rooms.
To
Kill a Mockingbird
was published
July 11, 1960 and was an instant bestseller and critical success. In
1961 it won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The film
version (still popular today) won the 1962 Academy Award
for Best Screenplay Adaptation.
Harper
Lee told a journalist: “I never expected any sort of
success with Mockingbird.
I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands
of reviewers, but, at the same time, I sort of hoped
someone would like it enough to give me encouragement. I
hoped for a little, as I said, but I got rather a whole
lot, and in some ways this was just about as frightening
as the quick merciful death I expected.” That year,
1965, she was in
Kansas
assisting Capote with his research for In Cold Blood.
In
1966, President Johnson appointed her to the newly formed
National Council on the Arts, along with Leonard
Bernstein, Agnes de Mille, Duke Ellington, Helen Hayes,
Gregory Peck, Sidney Poitier, Richard Rodgers, Rosalind
Russell, and John Steinbeck.
From a
poll conducted by Library
Journal in 1999, To
Kill a Mockingbird was declared the “Best Novel of
the Century.” And on
November 5, 2007, Harper Lee was presented The Presidential Medal of
Freedom, the highest civilian award in the
United States, by President Bush in a ceremony at the White House.
The President said: “To Kill a Mockingbird has influenced the character of our country for the
better. It's been a gift to the entire world. As a model
of good writing and humane sensibility, this book will be
read and studied forever.” |
Plot
Summary of To Kill a Mockingbird
from Wikipedia,
the free on-line encyclopedia
The
story takes place during three years of the Great Depression
in the fictional "tired old town" of Maycomb,
Alabama. The narrator, 9-year-old Scout Finch, lives with her older
brother Jem and their widowed father Atticus, a middle-aged
lawyer. Jem and Scout befriend a boy named Dill who visits
Maycomb to stay with his aunt for the summer. The three
children are terrified by, and fascinated with, their
neighbor, the reclusive "Boo" Radley. The adults of
Maycomb are hesitant to talk about Boo and for many years, few
have seen him. The children feed each other's imaginations
with rampant rumors about his grotesque appearance and his
reasons for remaining hidden, while they dream of ways to get
him to come out of his house. Following two summers of
friendship with Dill, Scout and Jem find that someone is
leaving them small gifts in a tree outside the Radley place.
Several times, the mysterious Boo makes gestures of affection
to the children, but, to their disappointment, never appears
in person.
Atticus
is assigned to defend a black man named Tom Robinson, who has
been accused of raping Mayella Ewell, a young white woman.
Although many of Maycomb's citizens disapprove, Atticus agrees
to defend Tom to the best of his ability. Scout is subjected
to other children taunting Atticus, calling him a
"nigger-lover," and she is tempted to stand up for
her father's honor by fighting, even though he has told her
not to. For his part, Atticus faces a group of men intent on
lynching Tom, but this danger is averted when Scout, Jem, and
Dill shame the mob into dispersing by forcing them to view the
situation from Atticus' and Tom's points of view.
Because
Atticus does not want them to be present at Tom Robinson's
trial, Scout, Jem and Dill watch in secret from the colored
balcony. Atticus establishes that the accusers—Mayella and
her father and the town drunk, Bob Ewell—are lying. It also
becomes clear that the friendless Mayella was making sexual
advances towards Tom and that her father caught her in the
act. Despite significant evidence of Tom's innocence, he is
convicted. Jem's faith in justice is badly shaken, as is
Atticus', when a hopeless Tom is shot and killed while trying
to escape from prison.
Bob Ewell is humiliated by the trial and vows revenge. He spits in
Atticus' face on the street, tries to break into the judge's
house, and menaces Tom Robinson's widow. Finally, he attacks
the defenseless Jem and Scout as they walk home from a
Halloween pageant at their school. Jem's arm is broken in the
struggle, but, amid the confusion, someone comes to their
rescue. The mysterious man carries Jem home, where Scout
eventually recognizes him as the reclusive Boo Radley.
Reviews
and Comments about
Readings in the Style of Radio Drama
TO
KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee (David as men and boys' voices,
Diana Heinlein as Scout and women)
Lori
Abbatepaolo, Librarian, Middle Island Public Library:
"The performers (Diana Heinlein and Steve Corbellini) were
excellent, and the adaptation and staging provided a powerful
experience of Harper Lee's book. It was filled with emotion and
the audience seemed completely caught up in the
performance." Jean
Scanlon, Program Director, Freeport Memorial Library: "The
performers take you back to the 1930's South. The variations in
voice make you feel as though all the litigants and the children
are on stage. The reading was wonderful." Bonnie
Russell, Program Director, John Jermain Library, Sag Harbor:
"Excellent" in all categories, including Audience
Response, Literary Content, and Performance.
THE
COLOR OF WATER by James McBride (David as Narrator, Debbie
Starker as Ruth)
Barbara
Minerd, Public Relations Director, Shelter Rock Public Library:
“Well, if this radio drama doesn't inspire those who haven't
read the book to read it, I don't know what will. The
program transported me to another world." Jude Schanzer,
Program Director and Publicity,
East Meadow
Public Library: "Stupendous meticulous thought
obviously given to the material and the venue in which it was to
be performed. The audience was visibly moved."
Marion Waller, Professional Theatrical Director, at
Copiague
Library: "The performances were mesmerizing. You
"saw" these people and never had to wonder who was
speaking. Eras and places were evoked to maximum
effect." Penelope Wright, Director of Adult Programs,
Rogers
Memorial Library,
Southampton
: "A brilliant adaptation of a remarkable book.
The superbly acted production conveys the pure essence of Mr.
McBride's poignant tribute to his remarkable mother." Melissa
Gabrielle, Programs, South Country Library, Bellport:
"A powerful and wonderful performance that had a great
impact on the audience. The high school students who
attended commented that they found that the actors made the
story even more relevant to their experiences in class."
TRAVELS
WITH CHARLEY by John Steinbeck (David as Steinbeck and his
Characters)
Millie
Scott, Librarian,
West Babylon
Public Library:
"The West Babylon Literary Club was looking forward to your
presentation and again were not disappointed! An excellent
program. Thanks!" Kate Horan, Adult Services
Librarian, South Country Library: "I am so impressed
with how you coordinated text selections with the music of Aaron
Copland. I'm sure you could tell by the audience's
enthusiastic response that everyone loved the various voices you
highlighted in our narrative journey across America." Fran
Carey, patron, Half Hollow Hills Community Library: "I
loved Copland's music accompanying the lively and animated
reading; this was a delightful and engaging performance." Tracey
Simon, Program Coordinator,
Lynbrook
Public Library: "The feedback was quite positive and
inspired a few members of the audience to read the book and join
us for the book discussion the following week!"
SNOW
IN AUGUST by Pete Hammil (David as the Rabbi, Matt Stashin as boys' voices)
Lorraine
Paesano and Mary
Frayne, Librarians, Middle Country Public Library:
“The accents, the shifting of characters, the musical
accompaniment – all added to a magical reading." Beth
Saltalamacchio, Cultural Program Specialist,
Plainview
Old
Bethpage
Library: "This
program gave me a better sense of the whole book than I thought
was possible. The segments were well planned, and the
actors did a wonderful job creating characters and voices."
Evelyn Pusinelli, Program Coordinator,
Hicksville
Public Library: "The audience was enthralled with the
reading; the presentation held their attention.
Excellent." Barbara Minard, Program Director,
Shelter Rock Public Library: "The performance was much
more than I expected. Music selections augmented the
reading perfectly. Foreign accents beautifully transported
the audience to a different time and place. All in all, it
was relaxing, entertaining, and very professional."
FAHRENHEIT
451 by Ray Bradbury (Melanie Lipton, Matt Stashin, David
Houston)