Photo by Laura Slovesko

By Alyse Horn

Prime Stage Theatre, which runs out of the New Hazlett Theatre at 6 Allegheny Square East, will open its season with the Pulitzer Prize winning book by Harper Lee “To Kill a Mockingbird” on Friday, November 4 and run through Sunday, November 14.

The Saturday, November 5 performance will mark the 20th Anniversary Season for Prime Stage Theatre, which will be celebrated that night after the performance. There will be a special guest emcee and the chance to meet former Prime Stage performers, directors, and designers along with the current cast of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” There will be cake and a cash bar.

On Saturday, November 13 there will be a pre-show reception where Mary Badham, the Academy Award-nominated actress who played Scout in the 1962 film, will give a keynote speech about Prime Stage’s participation in the Big Read that is an initiative of the National Endowment of the Arts.

For this production of “To King a Mockingbird,” Scout will be played by CAPA 6th grader Grace Vensel, who is joining Prime Stage Theatre for the third time. She also played Fiona in “The Giver” and Betty Parris in “The Crucible.”

Atticus Finsh will be played by Brian Ceponis who recently relocated to Pittsburgh from the West Coast. Ceponis has performed in television shows such as “NSIC,” “All My Children,” “Monk,” and “West Wing.” He also had a role in the movie “Transformers: Dark of the Moon.”

As the Prime Stage season continues into 2017, the next productions will include George Orwell’s “1984” as well as “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Pittsburgh native Stephen Chbosky.

To buy tickets, click here.