A role in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' fueled this actors dream

It’s been called “the most successful American play in Broadway history,” as well as “the greatest novel of all time.”

And now Harper Lee’s classic “To Kill a Mockingbird” is coming to the Academy of Music on the Kimmel Cultural Campus July 12-24 as part of a multi-year national tour.

Set in Alabama in 1934, Lee’s enduring story of racial injustice and childhood innocence centers on one of the most venerated characters in American literature — small town lawyer Atticus Finch, played by award-winning actor Richard Thomas.

In the play Finch defends Tom Robinson, a Black man accused of raping a white woman. That role is taken on by California native Yaegel Welch, who understudied the role on Broadway.

A man inspired by actors and even writers such as August Wilson, Welch says growing up he always knew he wanted to be involved with theater. He was so intent to succeed and study his craft as thoroughly as possible, that today he holds a BA from Morehouse College, an MFA from Brandeis University, and an MFA from the George Washington University Academy for Classical Acting.

“I first read ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ when I was in junior high school,” remembers Welch, “and later discovered the film when I was an acting student at Brandeis University and was researching Black actors.

“Later,” he continues, “I earned my Equity card doing a citywide, statewide tour of the play for the New Repertory Theatre – although it’s much different today than the play I did then.”

Welch believes that today America has changed in its awareness of events that are happening around us. “But we can see that racism still exists, and for that to change we still have a long, long way to go.”

For example, Welch cites videos that now show us death and destruction in real time, like the murder of George Floyd and other high profile cases that have forced people of all races to think about the underlying causes behind those incidents.

“Here I am – a Black male with two master’s degrees and a career in television, theater and film, yet I’ve experienced discrimination in my own life based on how I look.”

To emphasize his feelings, he tells of doing the play one day when someone in the audience suffered a heart attack. “Somebody yelled ‘lights!’ and I was afraid someone would begin shooting – even end up killing me. I ran off stage in terror.”

And the terror lasted to the next time Welch had to go back on stage. “And in that moment my experience as a Black man as opposed to a white man was clearly evident and how obviously different it is for both of us in America. Believe me it was very hard for me to get on stage the next night.”

Today Welch sees this production of “To Kill a Mockingbird” as very different from the production that first launched his career.

“I think one of the main messages in the play today is to have empathy and understanding for people whose experiences are different from yours,” the actor concludes. “The Finch family was living in Jim Crow America, a legalized form of racism. Fortunately, I don’t have to live in that space as a constant. And so while we haven’t arrived there yet, I do see progress being made.”

For more information on “To Kill a Mockingbird,” visit kimmelculturalcampus.org.