By Jeff Kenney Staff Writer
CULVER — This year’s traditional fall theater performances in the Culver area will showcase two very different — but equally intriguing — plays.
On Saturdays, Nov. 10 and 17, and Friday, Nov. 16, at 7:30 pm, the Culver Academies will present the play, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” based on Harper Lee’s classic novel of the same title, one of the most influential and highly regarded novels of the 20th century.
The Academy’s Richard Coven — who is both director and performer as Atticus Finch — says he’s always wanted to direct this play. “I played (Atticus) about 25 years ago, and wanted to come back to the character when it was more age appropriate.”

The play, which focuses on a young girl’s perceptions of a social outcast and the trial of a black man in the deep south, is partly about racism, which Coven feels still exists. “But the play is about more than racism,” he adds. “It’s about intolerance, and that could be about anything…as (Atticus Finch) would say, the play is about empathy. He puts it as ‘crawling inside another man’s skin and walking around.’
“We have a number of students who are new, about half the cast. It’s been a good production for them to get a sense of time and place but also (to) ask themselves, ‘where am I on these issues? Do I have empathy for other people?’”
Another interesting facet of the play is the young age of two of its principle leads, the parts of “Scout” Finch and neighbor Dill, the latter being played by Alex Jeffirs, a home-schooled fifth grader who has been involved in theater for the past three years, including acting in the annual Missoula Theater performances in Plymouth. Jeffirs says the play is about “keeping the innocent people safe, which has to do with (the title of the play). It’s about protecting the innocent.”
Megan Yeager, a fifth grader at Culver Elementary school, plays the central role of young Jean Louise, or “Scout” Finch. “My dad and mom told me about (the play),” she recalls. “This is my first real big play. I was in the Academy’s (performance of) ‘Jane Eyre’ and I was also in Woodcraft camp plays twice. I’m in every scene (of this play).
“I think it’s a really good play and everybody should read the book and see the play, because it has a great message and it’s very well written…it’s a great play and we’ve really been working hard on it. I think this will help motivate me for even bigger jobs like Broadway, if I make it that far.”
Though not onstage extensively in the play, one of the more difficult — and central — roles in the performance is that of first-time actor Thomas Anderson, an Academies senior who plays Tom Robinson, a black man accused of assaulting a white woman. “The role of Tom,” says Anderson, “I felt honored to actually have it. Hopefully I can touch people in some sort of way. The play definitely still has a message today.”
All performances of “To Kill a Mockingbird” will take place on the stage at Eppley Auditorium on the Culver Academies campus.
Culver Community High School is hard at work, meanwhile, on its fall play, the mile-a-minute “Seussical, the Musical,” based on a host of characters created by children’s author Dr. Seuss, and scheduled for performances on Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. and Nov. 17 and 18 at 2 p.m.
Director Cindy Reister, who has been involved in theater in Culver since the inception of the Maxinkuckee Players in the early 1980s — not to mention a number of high school plays in recent years — is excited about the production. “The cast that we have is typecast perfectly,” she beams. “I have a great bunch of core students that have been in it several years. They’re strong leaders that I have a lot of years with yet, so I’m really happy about that. I’ve invited last year’s fifth and sixth graders to perform in this and almost all of them have come back.”
Reister is also happy about the ample adult assistance on hand this time around. “I have probably the biggest and strongest core of adults that are helping with the production of this play. That’s going to show in the quality. Chris Arvelo is the assistant director this year. Diane Derrow is the musical director, Katie Ettlinger is backstage director, Brenda Smith is the set director and choreographer, Julie Cowen is the costume director, and Sheila Broeker and Sue Maes are publicity and stage moms, because they both have kids in this play. Colleen Klausing and Gloria Lorenz are assisting with the costumes. Tom Schmidt and the industrial tech and Marybeth Harness and the art students helped build the sets.”
Culver High School junior Myles Pinder, who started performing in high school plays in the fifth grade, hasn’t missed a year as a performer since then. Says Pinder, “I would say that it’s a humorous musical. There aren’t very many lines, but about 35 songs.”
Reister says she chose this play because it’s not been done in the Culver area before and, she adds, “anything that’s got Seuss characters and tons of colors and the backgrounds that they have, will be fun to do. That’s one of my (top) priorities: that it’s a fun production…and I have never seen a group of students more excited about a play.”
Tickets for “Seussical the Musical are $5 for adults, $2 for students, and $1 for senior citizens. The play will take place in the Culver High School auditorium.