Photos: First Look at The Sauk's MOCKINGBIRD

The first fully-produced production by The Sauk’s Teen Theatre Project, “Mockingbird,” will be presented for three performances April 5-7 at the Sauk Theatre in Jonesville.

Check out photos below!

“Mockingbird” tells the story of seven-year-old Caitlin who is on the autism spectrum. Not all things make sense to her. Emotions are mysterious and voices are almost always too loud. Suddenly, she must grapple with the unthinkable: a mass shooting has taken her brother away. He was the one person who helped her cope. Now she is alone with her grieving father and a cacophony of children at school. She struggles to understand empathy, what facial expressions mean and why a drawing might have more than one color. We see the world from Caitlin’s point of view. We struggle as she does. We also take comfort in the times when she finds a friend, draws a multicolored mockingbird and can finally cry for her brother.

“The Teen Theatre Project was started in February 2020 and was just about to launch when the pandemic shut us down,” said Sauk Executive Director Trinity Bird. “While we have done a few video projects since beginning, we have been trying to find a way to revive the project and when I found this play, I knew we had something special.”

The play will be completely teen-acted with the cast also making artistic decisions on the scenery, lighting, costumes, sound effects, properties and even marketing materials. The teens are also responsible for setting and maintaining the production budget.

The Sauk cast includes Ellie Gray as Caitlin, Alex Guest as Dad, Lorelei Stemme as Mrs. Brook, Sierra Kibert as Mrs. Johnson, Jacob Gray as Michael, Atticus Maas as Josh, Whittaker Maas as Eddie, Ford Swihart as Brian and Parker Falke as Shane. Bird served as production director with Allie Tappen as stage manager. The production has received production assistance from Mandee Howard, Sarah Gray, Jeff Gray, Ron Boyle, Joella Hendrickson and Gianna Green.

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 5 and Saturday, April 6. A 3 p.m. matinee will be performed on Sunday, April 7. Tickets purchased in advance are $10 and will be assigned seating. Tickets at the door will be Pay What You Can and general admission. Tickets are available at the button below or at the door starting one hour prior to each performance. The Sauk, Hillsdale County’s community theatre, performs at the Sauk Theatre, 240 E. Chicago in Jonesville.

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