Citizens of Mockingbird: Celia Keenan-Bolger on the Magic and Morality of Playing Scout Finch

In adapting Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird for the stage, award-winning scribe Aaron Sorkin looked at the iconic characters of the recently named "best-loved" American novel with fresh eyes. In this exclusive series, Broadway.com talks with Sorkin and the talented performers who bring the citizens of Maycomb, Alabama to life every night at the Shubert Theatre.

CELIA KEENAN-BOLGER AS SCOUT FINCH
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CHARACTER: Scout Finch, the narrator of the play. As a 41-year-old woman, she is looking back on the summer when she was eight years old and watching her father, small-town lawyer Atticus Finch, defend an African-American man accused of rape.

ACTOR: Celia Keenan-Bolger is a three-time Tony-nominated star, well-loved for many performances including Olive Ostrovsky in the original cast of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Eponine in Les Miserables, Molly in Peter and the Starcatcher and an acclaimed turn as Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie.

CELIA KEENAN-BOLGER ON PLAYING SCOUT: “Social justice was a major theme of my family. I was dragged to every union protest and parade, and there were socialist meetings in my parents’ living room growing up. Doing what was right on behalf of the community is something that really resonates with me. I always thought would be reserved for my life outside the theater. To get to be part of this story, which has things to say about the world that we’re living in. I can’t believe my life that I get to play this part.”

AARON SORKIN ON CELIA KEENAN-BOLGER: “When we did the first table read-through [of the script], we said let’s have grown-ups read the kids’ parts, just so we can hear the play. Celia was one of those grown-ups. We made it clear to her—this is just for today, you won’t be moving on with the play. At that table, with only a couple hours of work, Celia was doing a magic trick. With just the slightest adjustments of posture and voice, she effortlessly went back and forth [between Scout’s ages]. Listen, I’ve been a big Celia Keenan-Bolger fan for a long time, but she’s giving a really stunning performance in this play.”

Photographed at the Shubert Theatre by Caitlin McNaney for Broadway.com