SSHS students shine in "To Kill a Mockingbird"

The South Side High School Department of Performing Arts successfully put on the production of Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” from Nov. 17-19.

The show was directed by high school English teacher Debra Tanklow and produced by retired English educator Russell Reid. Lee’s work was especially moving for Tanklow, who experienced racial tensions and violence while growing up in the 1960s.

“My experience of both film and book occurred against the background of Jim Crow and the Civil Rights Movement, which was in full force during my childhood in the early sixties,” she said. “Reports of marches, sit-ins, and cross burnings were on our televisions daily. The names Martin Luther King and Emmett Till along with George Wallace and Lester Maddox floated across black and white TV screens.”

The story takes place in the close-knit fictional town of Maycomb, Ala., during the 1930s and features the Finch family; father Atticus, son Jem, and daughter Scout. Scout and Jem discover that Atticus is going to represent Tom Robinson, a black man who is accused of raping and beating a white woman. Because of their father’s role in the trial, Scout and Jem become the target of racial slurs and insults.

Sophomore Drew Beatty played the role of Jem in his first high school drama role. Melissa Aliotta starred as Scout, while senior Connor Coniglio performed in his last production as Atticus. Senior Aaron Duggan played Robinson in his first school performance and junior Shaun Piette was cast as the mysterious Nathan “Boo” Radley.