Calendar of Events
--SUNY Fredonia
 |
||
| Latest News | ||
|
If you like To Kill a Mockingbird, try these authors and titles. |
||
|
Robert H. Jackson Books Available at Prendergast Library |
||
| Events @ Member Libraries |
Courtroom Drama Comes To Life
JHS Students To Perform ‘Mockingbird’ Trial
A group of Jamestown High School seniors will perform a staged reading
of the trial scene from "To Kill a Mockingbird" at 8 p.m. Tuesday, March
31, in the auditorium at the Robert H. Jackson Center.
Their performance, which is free and open to the public, will be
Jamestown’s final event of the 2009 Big Read.
“The students at Jamestown High School have really impressed our
directing team with their dedication and focus on accomplishing a
meaningful production of this serious work,” said Randy Gadikian, Big
Read coordinator and director of the Daniel A. Reed Library at SUNY
Fredonia.
Since they auditioned for their roles, students in Christopher Tehan’s
Drama II class have been working for about two weeks under the direction
of Dan Lendzian and Aundre Seals, New York City actors and directors who
graduated from Fredonia in 2006 and 2007.
“We’re looking at the heart of humanity in this play,” Seals said.
Lendzian pointed out Defense Attorney Atticus Finch’s advice to his
daughter in the book, “You never really understand a person until you
consider things from his point of view – until you climb into his skin
and walk around in it.”
“That’s what theater allows us to do,” he said.
“ ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is my favorite book. I read it in sixth grade
and fell in love immediately with Scout. It’s an honor to play her,”
said Mackenzie Caldwell, who narrates the story.
“It’s a totally different experience reading the book compared to being
in it. You feel the emotion more,” Ms. Caldwell said.
Like Scout, the narrator, Rachel Kanicki finds herself in the role of an
observer as Judge Taylor.
“I like the judge part. I watch what other people are doing and
evaluate,” she said.
“Judge Taylor wants Atticus to win. He’s supposed to come off as
impartial, but he wants justice to be done,” Ms. Kanicki said.
As for Mr. Gilmer, the prosecuting attorney, Griffin Nieves said, “I
feel he thinks he’s right, but the questions Atticus brings up are
confusing to him. He represents the outlook when the story took place.”
According to Seals, “Griffin is doing a great job of not playing the
villain. He’s a man who lives in his time.”
The students’ performance is funded by a grant from the Carnahan-Jackson
Humanities Fund of SUNY Fredonia and the Teaching American History Grant
of Jamestown High School.
“This has been a great opportunity for high school students to work with
two ‘theatre guys’ who do this for a living,” Gadikian said.
The Jackson Center is located at 305 E. Fourth St., Jamestown. For more
information about the performance, call Prendergast Library at 484-7135,
Ext. 225.
Besides “To Kill a Mockingbird,” a classic novel by Harper Lee, the Big
Read has also featured “Robert H. Jackson: New Deal Lawyer, Supreme
Court Justice, Nuremberg Prosecutor,” a new biography by Gail Jarrow.
Book discussions, movie showings, displays and programs at public
libraries and community centers throughout Chautauqua and Cattaraugus
counties during February and March have helped area residents explore
the theme Lawyers and Literature.
The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in
partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts
Midwest. Major sponsors are the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation,
Fredonia College, the Robert H. Jackson Center, the 1891 Fredonia Opera
House and the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Library System.
Plans Set For Second
Local ‘Big Read’
The Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Library System will partner with SUNY
Fredonia this winter to encourage local residents to read “To Kill A
Mockingbird” by Harper Lee.
The college was one of 208 nationwide organizations recently awarded a
grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to participate in its
annual initiative called The Big Read and cooperated with the library
system in 2007 on a successful Big Read partnership featuring
“Fahrenheit 451.”
“We look forward to bringing local communities together again to read
and discuss a single book,” said Randy Gadikian, director of the Daniel
A. Reed Library at SUNY Fredonia.
“The Big Read in Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties will be in full
swing throughout February and March,” he said.
Events at area libraries will include book discussions, film showings
and exhibits, said Catherine A. Way, director of the
Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Library System.
“This is an opportunity I have urged our 36 member libraries to
embrace,” Ms. Way said.
As area libraries firm up plans for the public reading project, Tina
Scott, assistant director of the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Library System,
is collecting dates and descriptions of their events to list on a master
calendar.
“I encourage people to contact their local public library to get
information about their Big Read activities and to borrow their
materials,” Ms. Scott said.
The NEA presents The Big Read in partnership with the Institute of
Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest. To
date, the NEA has funded more than 500 Big Read programs designed to
restore reading to the center of American culture.
According to NEA Chairman Dana Gioia, the Big Read is “about getting
people to leave their homes and offices, unplug themselves for a few
hours, and enjoy the pleasures of literature with their neighbors.”
