‘It’s a classic’

LITTLE ROCK — Abby Shourd is only 12, but she’s already making sacrifices for her acting.

For the coveted role of Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird, which is being staged at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre in Little Rock, she had to cut her blond hair, dye it red and get bangs.

She gave up cheerleading for the rest of this year at Conway Christian School to make time for rehearsals, which are six days a week, and she had to take a break from ballet.

“Cheerleading was very hard [to quit]because I have a lot of my friends on there, but they’re all very supportive of this,” Abby said.

It’s not something every seventh-grader would do, but that’s how much Abby loves performing.

“I’m really drawn to meeting new people and making the audience laugh,” she said.

This is her fourth appearance on The Rep’s stage, and “my biggest role so far,” she said.

Abby also has performed in A Christmas Story, in the Summer Musical Theatre Intensive production That ’80s Show and as Martha Cratchit in A Christmas Carol.

Abby said she knows Scout is an iconic character, which puts more pressure on her.

“I think it does a little bit - that it’s a classicand everybody loves it - but it just makes it just so much better that everyone will want to come see it,” she said.

Some shows already are sold out; others have a “very limited” number of seats left, according to the website wwwtherep.org.

Performances are scheduled through Feb. 12.

Opening night was Tuesday, a private performance for an African-American sorority.

Shortly before the performance, Abby said, she was nervous and excited.

“I think the exciting rules over the nervous,” she said.

On Wednesday morning, a tired but happy Abby was on her way to school with her dad, Jon.

“The crowd responded so well; I was so happy,” she said. “They laughed at everything; it was great.”

How did she land what many actors would consider the role of a lifetime?

“I guess I just have a passion, and my mom and dad always say I have something special,” Abby said.

She auditioned, and her parents, Cathy and Jon Shourd, received a phone call later that night that Abby got the part.

“My parents came into my bedroom and told me. I couldn’t sleep that night, I was so excited,” she said.

Abby hasn’t read the entire 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Harper Lee - it’s not required until ninth grade, she said.

Cathy Shourd, who read the book as an adult and loved it, knew the story line was mature, with its themes of racial prejudice and rape.

The play became a teaching moment for Shourd and her daughter.

“I had to talk to her a lot about that when I learned she was going to be in it,” Shourd said. “We watched the movie as a jumping board” to discuss the serious subjects portrayed.

“I think I’m a little mature for my age, so that also helps,” Abby said.

The book is beloved all these years later for many reasons, especially because of characters such as Atticus Finch, the lawyer who defends Tom Robinson, a black man; Finch’s daughter, Scout, the motherless tomboy; her brother, Jem; their friend, Dill; and the reclusive neighbor,Boo Radley. The story is set in the Depression in the imaginary town of Maycomb, Ala.

“I love the story line, and it really shows the time period,” Abby said.

Her favorite scene in To Kill A Mockingbird is during the trial for Tom Robinson.

“I love the one where she’s standing up for her father as he’s walking out,” Abby said. “I think it just shows the respect for her father and how much she loves him and how much she respects him because he is doing this great thing for the community, defending a black man, which was frowned upon back then. I think that’s a really great moment.”

Abby described Scout as “definitely a tomboy” and “very inquisitive.”

Abby hesitated when asked if she can relate to Scout, if she feels any connection.

“I guess I’m a little like her - I always want to know what’s going on,” Abby said.

When the play starts, Scout is 6, and she is 9 years old by the end.

Abby’s character wears overalls the entire play, except for the scene where she dresses in a ham costume for a school play.

“It’s very big, and it’s made out of burlap - I love wearing the ham. It’s just fun. I love being the center of attention,” she said with a laugh.

So, the ham wearing a ham?

Abby said she also enjoys working with all the cast, including Damon McKinnis, the Little Rock actor who plays Scout’s brother, Jem.

“He is actually almost 15, so he can almost drive,” she said - a big deal to a 12-year-old. “He is very nice and great to work with.” John Feltch of North Carolina plays Scout’s father.

“He is great. He is really tall,” Abby said, laughing.

“He’s just awesome. He saidhe grew up in Boston, so he had a little bit of that accent, so he had to get rid of that. I love to hear him talk in his real Boston accent.”

She said the actor “loved to hear country accents,” meaning her Southern accent.

“I have to talk a little more country for the show,” she said.

Abby said she has a good memory, and she just reads over lines with her mom and dad.

“I’m always a little nervous, especially on this one, that I’m going to forget my lines - but I have to put that aside and focus,” she said.

Shourd said Abby was in a “little Christmas thing at church” when she was 3 and got rave reviews for her behavior and great facial expressions.

“She just sat up there andnever moved; she did exactly what she was supposed to,” Shourd said.

Jon Shourd works at Acxiom Corp. Abby’s sister, Haley, is 9, and takes guitar and “wants to sing,” Abby said. Maybe even act.

Abby’s career really started when Cathy’s sister, Christy Hockaday of Morrilton, saw a newspaper announcement for auditions for the Children’s Theatre to Go performance of A Different Kind of Nutcracker at the University of Central Arkansas.

“Christy said, ‘I think Abby would love this,’” Cathy Shourd recalled.

Abby was 7, and she played a mouse. She was in seven other Children’s Theatre to Go productions, and it took off from there.

She was in the ensemble of the Arkansas Shakespeare Festival’s production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat last summer.

Other credits include Youth Theatre of Central Arkansas, the Conway Dinner Theatre and Conway Christian School performances.

Shourd is much more taxi driver than stage mother. An occupational therapist at the Faulkner County Day School in Conway, she takes Abby back and forth to rehearsals.

“She just loves it - I think it’s really a big commitment on Mom and Dad,” Shourd said with a laugh.

“It’s intense, but not longlived.”

Abby, an honor student, is in the school band and choir, too, so Shourd said Abby has plenty to keep her busy.

Abby said she wants everyone who attends the production to have a good experience.

“I hope that they love the story just as much as I do, and that they had a great time and had some laughs, but also had some cries and some serious moments,” she said.

Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.

River Valley Ozark, Pages 145 on 01/29/2012

Print Headline: ‘It’s a classic’