By Julie Jensen

based on the Newberry Award Winning novel of the same name written by Kathryn Erskine

Caitlin is an 11-year-old girl 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.

Winner of the David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award (2015)

2 Helen Hayes Award Nominations: for Outstanding Original Play or Musical Adaptation and Outstanding Production, Theatre for Young Audiences (2016)

Mockingbird offers a finely nuanced look at grief, love, and autism with a hearty dose of laughter mixed with the tears. This five star world premiere from the Kennedy Center and VSA, is not to be missed.  --DC Metro Theater Arts

Mockingbird provides an entertaining jolt of theater for kids and parents alike, as well as accessible jumping off point for families to explore tough topics like bullying, mental disorders, and loss.  --DC Theatre Scene

Most importantly, this is a simple story told beautifully in a way that both adults and their kids can appreciate.  --Broadway World

Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga is a 501c3 non-profit organization which serves to culturally enrich the Chattanooga landscape through compensated opportunities for artists and unique experiences for audiences.  Since 2007, ETC has presented more than 100 productions, toured locally and nationally, and partnered with several area non-profits in the creation of programming that benefits our great city.  Our goal is simple to create a living wage regional theatre that introduces the complexities and vastness of our craft through meaningful experiences that are reflective and personal for both the artist and audience.  

We are the Ensemble Theatre that CREATES, CONNECTS, COLLABORATES and CARES

GARRY'S GARBLES:

When ETC produced the play  A CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME back in 2018, I met Alyce Benson at the Chattanooga Autism Center and a spark was ignited between the two of us of a shared program where neurodiverse and neurotypical performing artists could collaborate on projects in a safe, welcoming and friendly environment.  Thus commenced what would lead us towards THE SPECTRUM PLAYHOUSE.  MOCKINGBIRD marks the first in a series of performances and events centered around theatre and the performing arts where the casts will be integrated, the stories will be affirming and informative and the collaboration palpable.  The director of MOCKINGBIRD was just diagnosed as being on the Autism Spectrum within the last couple of years and one of the actors in the cast is also on the Austism Spectrum.  We are excited about this partnership and we are excited to kick it off with this particular play.  Join ETC as we look into the world of a child just trying to understand the complexities of a life complicated by loss and also by a way processing information.  Theatre is most affecting when the story is creates interest through empathy.