Jan 19, 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, contact:
Scooter MacMillan, marketing director
Springer Opera House
706-256-0955
smacmillan@springeroperahouse.org
Columbus, GA—1.19.2016: In July 1960, a woman from Monroeville, Ala., who’d moved to New York to be a writer, had her first novel published.
She didn’t expect much. The editorial team at her publishing company had warned her that she’d probably only sell several thousand copies.
“I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of reviewer but, at the same time, I sort of hoped someone would like it enough to give me encouragement,” the author later said.
The book was an immediate sensation and has continued to be a sensation for 56 years. Within a year of publication, it had been translated into 10 languages, and after 41 weeks on the best seller list, it was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
It has now been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 30 million copies.
A 1991 survey by the Book of the Month Club and the Library of Congress Center for the Book, found that the book was rated only behind the Bible on a list of “books that have made a difference.”
A 2008 survey found that it is the most read novel in U.S. high schools.
Many critics consider it the Great American Novel.
The protagonist of the movie version of the book was named the No. 1 greatest American film hero by the American Film Institute.
The book is “To Kill a Mockingbird.” The stage adaptation comes to the Springer Jan. 21-31.
“With the recent publication of ‘Go Set a Watchman,’ Harper Lee’s earlier story that is sort of a prequel to ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ this is a timely opportunity for us to revisit this complex and compelling drama,” said Paul Pierce, the Springer artistic director.
“To Kill a Mockingbird” is the tale of a quiet Southern town rocked by a crisis of conscience. Despite threats to himself and his family, lawyer Atticus Finch defends a black man wrongly accused of a grave crime. It is a heroic tale of standing up for the underdog, or underdogs because Scout witnesses several different crises of innocent “mockingbirds” threatened by senseless slaughter.
The Gallery on 10th is presenting an exhibition of art highlighting unusual and lesser-known areas of the Springer that will be displayed in the Springer lobby during the run of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Over 20 artists work will be featured in the exhibition “Behind the Scenes at the Springer” before the show and during intermission.
Public performances of “To Kill a Mockingbird” are at 7:30 p.m., Thursdays-Saturdays (Jan. 21-23 and Jan. 28-30) and at 2:30 p.m., Sundays (Jan. 24 and Jan. 31).
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