Southeastern Louisiana University

Columbia Theatre presents American classic 'To Kill a Mockingbird' March 19

Contact: Tonya Lowentritt

3/10/09

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AN AMERICAN CLASSIC TAKES THE STAGE - Southeastern Louisiana University’s Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts will present the Montana Repertory Theatre in “To Kill a Mockingbird” March 19 at 7:30 p.m.

     Winner of the 1960 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” is considered an American classic. Four decades after the novel’s publication, the stage adaptation by the Montana Repertory Theatre, one of the country’s oldest and most respected touring companies, continues to compel audiences worldwide with the story’s warmth, wit and wisdom.

     “We are pleased to bring Montana Repertory Company to the Columbia stage for the first time. ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is well known and well loved by so many,” said Donna Gay Anderson, Columbia Theatre director. “Because it is set in the Deep South, most of us can relate to the story on some level.”

     The play is set in the 1930s in a sleepy southern town where attorney Atticus Finch, widowed father of two young children, defends a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman. Through every step and with every word, Atticus instills in his children the traditional values of respect for others, honesty, courage, integrity and above all, responsibility for one’s actions.

     Montana Repertory Theatre was established as a professional touring company in 1968 to provide professional theatre to neighboring western states at an affordable cost. The company’s mission is to “tell the great stories of our world to enlighten, develop, and celebrate the human spirit in an ever-expanding community.”

     The company has been touring nationally since 1996, when it presented its first production of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Following that successful tour and building on “Mockingbird’s” success were “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “The Diary of Anne Frank,” “Death of a Salesman,” “The Miracle Worker,” “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “The Trip to Bountiful,” “Lost in Yonkers, and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”

     “A well written, well performed play will change the way people think...even in some small way,” Anderson added.  “’To Kill a Mockingbird’ is fertile ground for soul searching.”

     Tickets are $39, Orchestra 1 and Loge; $33, Orchestra 2 and Balcony 1; and $29, Balcony 2, and can be purchased online at www.columbiatheatre.org or at the Columbia Theatre box office, 220 E. Thomas St., (985) 543-4371. Box office hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday, Wednesday and Friday.