The players at Delta Center Stage will perform John Grisham’s A Time to Kill at Jake and Freida Stein Hall beginning Thursday June 24.
It’s the first scripted drama on stage for more than one year and the auditorium is open to full audience attendance.
The drama is based on Grisham’s book of the same name and centers on a black man, Carl Lee Hailey played by Alfred Redmond, who killed two white men who had raped and beaten his 10-year old daughter.
Hailey is defended by Jake Brigance played by Ryan Eagle and prosecuted by district attorney Rufus Buckley played by Brandt Dick.
This show was actually in production at the time the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown public events.
Delta Center Stage Executive Director Tim Bixler said he’s glad to have the show open this coming season.
“We are pleased to finally be producing this show, which was the first casualty of the 2020 general shutdown,” Bixler said. “This is being billed as the first or opening show of our new fully scheduled ‘21-’22 season, and all season passes, both current and belated with this title on the card, will be honored for free admission this weekend.”
A membership table set up in the lobby for any who wish to attend and also purchase their season tickets for the remainder of our schedule. General admission is $10 for adults, and $6 for anyone under 16 or with any student ID.
Show times are in keeping with the 40+ years of tradition of DCS: Opening Thursday evening through Saturday evening at 7:30 with a traditional Sunday matinee at 2:30 p.m.
“Our intention is to present our audience with as close a return to normalcy as we can possibly make it, but not ignoring commonsense safety measures as necessary,” Bixler said. “You will enter our public spaces and notice the remarkable ‘mountain air’ freshness of the room, thanks to a new, high tech, Ultraviolet light-based system that provides continuous air and surface sanitizing technology which is mounted in the ductwork.”
This equipment provides a scientifically proven virtually 100% germ and virus free breathing air environment with each and every cycle of air through the HVAC system, which will run continuously. Bathroom and other public spaces will be similarly treated. Those who are fully vaccinnated will be allowed entry and attendance mask-free. DCS will provide protective gear and hand sanitizer at multiple points, and the concession area will also feature “touch free” single serving beverages of all kinds.
“We only request that the non-vacinnated, (or those lacking Covid 19 antibodies) observe common courtesy toward fellow attendees and avoid close contact,” Bixler said. “The balcony area will also be open as a ‘super safe’ space for those who should or who wish to maintain social distancing.”
Unlike the movie with which most are familiar of this story, Rupert Holmes, in this authorized adaptation of Grisham’s gripping first novel, adheres much more closely to the plotting and characters in the novel.
“Without apology, note that the show will run longer than the traditional two-hour length, but rest assured the gripping tale moves briskly through the many extended plot threads of Grisham’s brilliant story,” Bixler said. “You will never be bored.
“Like no other place on earth, our audience will be able to appreciate Grisham’s unerring observations of the upheaval and social transformation occurring in our ‘modern’ southern era, following the devastation for generations before of the ‘Jim Crow’ south,” Bixler said. “As character Lucien Wilbanks observes toward the end of the play, ‘Something very permanent and real has changed here today in our state.’”
