Citizens of Mockingbird: LaTanya Richardson Jackson on Revealing the Heart and Purpose of Calpurnia

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.

LATANYA RICHARDSON JACKSON AS CALPURNIA
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CHARACTER: Calpurnia, the Finch family housekeeper, who has been working for three generations of the family, since the age of 16.

ACTOR: LaTanya Richardson Jackson has enjoyed a 30-year career in film, TV and theater. In 2014, she was nominated for a Tony Award for playing matriarch Lena Younger in A Raisin in the Sun; she was also see on Broadway in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone and off-Broadway in stop. reset. and The Taming of the Shrew. Notable TV and film credits include Fried Green Tomatoes, Juice, Malcolm X, Sleepless in Seattle, When a Man Loves a Woman, Lone Star, The Fighting Temptations, Freedomland, The Watsons Go to Birmingham and Show Me a Hero.

LATANYA RICHARDSON JACKSON ON PLAYING CALPURNIA: "I tried to find the heart of Calpurnia through people who I knew, like my grandmother who was in service. In this particular version, it was very important that Calpurnia was not seen as scenery without a point of view. And it was totally important to me being here."

AARON SORKIN ON LATANYA RICHARDSON JACKSON: “When LaTanya Richardson Jackson comes on stage, it changes the barometric pressure in the theater. A shift happens. She's like thunder."

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