Central High School presents 'Mockingbird' Reader's Theater

About 40 people turned out on a cold February evening to sip coffee drinks and watch a Reader's Theater presentation of "To Kill a Mockingbird."

The event Monday at Barnes & Noble bookstore in Cape Girardeau kicked off this year's United We Read program. The month of readings and discussions will focus on Harper Lee's 1960s classic best seller about racial injustice in a small Southern town.

The local United We Read program might be the only community literacy effort organized through a high school in the country, says Julia Jorgensen, program organizer and Central High School librarian. This is Cape Girardeau's sixth year to offer a United We Read program.

The Reader's Theater was organized by Central High School English and social studies teacher Bill Springer. He said he spent five weeks working dialogue from the book into a script read aloud by teachers. "I just stripped it down to the dialogue," he said. "You can tell who the characters are just by what they say."

This is the first time United We Read has presented a Reader's Theater.

The Cape High School Fiddle Team performed several Depression-era tunes under the direction of Steve Schaffner, music department chairman.

People crowded around the 10 violinists, three guitarists, one accordionist and one cellist, tapping their feet to the performers' renditions of "Keep On The Sunny Side Of the Street" and "You Are My Sunshine."

Central High School students also mounted a visual arts exhibit at the bookstore. One by one, art students told the audience about the two- and three-dimensional art.

A portion of sales at the bookstore went to the high school's efforts to enhance its book collection.

carel@semissourian.com

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