The Umbrella Stage Company hits hard and stays relevant
Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” hasn’t lost its punch, even after all these years. First published in 1960, the novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and Christopher Sergel adapted it into a stage play around 1970.
Now, The Umbrella Stage Company in Concord brings it to life again, and the story still stings. The show clocks in at about two and a half hours, with one intermission.
Lee drew straight from her own childhood in Monroeville, Alabama. She built the plot from her family, her neighbors, and a real event that shook her hometown in 1936, when she was just ten. The play takes us to Maycomb, Alabama, right in the middle of the Depression.
Scout Finch, her brother Jem, and their friend Dill roam a town boxed in by strict rules—race, class, gender, and family history. Step outside those lines, and you pay for it. The kids learn this lesson the hard way.
On stage, the story shifts from child narrator Scout to her grown-up self, Jean Louise. That choice gives the play another layer—innocence seen through the eyes of someone looking back. You feel the wonder and the weight at the same time.
Atticus Finch is the heart of it all—a widowed lawyer who tries to do right. He stands up for the powerless, treats Calpurnia, the family’s Black housekeeper, as an equal, and never misses a chance to teach his kids something real.
His best advice: Don’t judge anyone until you’ve walked around in their shoes. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view,” he tells Scout and Jem.
When Atticus is picked to defend Tom Robinson, a Black man accused of raping a white woman, he doesn’t flinch. He takes the case. He gives it everything.
Some Scenes Just Stick
The mob at the jail is unforgettable—Atticus standing guard all night, facing down a masked crowd. Scout saves the moment, not with a big speech, but by recognizing one of the men and talking to him about his boy, about turnips and a debt paid in kindling.
Her words cut through anger and shame. They do what the law can’t. The mob breaks up. The trial scenes work—they’re tense, and Sergel’s adaptation keeps them moving, pushing the story toward heartbreak, but also to a sliver of hope.
The clean, simple set is used to great effect. The stage feels purposeful. Cellist Valerie Thompson’s original music floats through the show, adding depth without taking over.
Performances and Design Shine
Several performances stand out. Amelia Broome gives Jean Louise real presence. Carolyn Saxon brings steady strength to Calpurnia. Spoiler alert: Calpurnia sings, a Capella, the most beautiful and haunting song about love after the funeral. Her voice filled the theater. That was, in my opinion, the highlight of the show. Bryce Mathieu, as Tom Robinson, is heartbreaking. And Barlow Adamson grounds the whole thing as Atticus.
A small visual that stayed with me: the way the courthouse balcony holds the Black spectators, physically above yet socially below the white townspeople on the main floor. That image quietly underscores everything the story is trying to say.
A Minor Drawback
I sat at the back and had a hard time hearing the three young actors playing Scout, Jem, and Dill. It didn’t really matter to me as I knew the story well. This is a classic.
I arrived later than planned due to the limited parking. It was my first time at The Umbrella Theater, and while I loved it, parking is a bit difficult.
Everything else was perfect, and I’m so grateful for the experience. Do yourself a favor and go see “To Kill a Mockingbird” at The Umbrella Theater in Concord. It’s an easy drive from Hopkinton and well worth the trip.
Why Does This Story Still Matter?
“Mockingbird” tackles racism, moral courage, and what it means to grow up. Those themes don’t fade. If anything, they hit harder now. Schools keep banning the book—in districts in Mississippi, California, Virginia, and elsewhere—because of its language and the tough truths it tells.
The American Library Association always lists it among the most challenged books in the country. The irony? The people who fight hardest to ban this story are usually the ones who need its message most.
Atticus says it perfectly: “Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit ’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” Mockingbirds don’t do harm. They just sing.
This production makes sure you hear their song. “To Kill a Mockingbird” runs at The Umbrella Stage Company, 40 Stow St., Concord, MA, through March 22.
