From Man in Chair to Atticus Finch

Canadian actor Jonathan Crombie is playing Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, the upcoming co-production between Fort Worth's Casa Mañana and the Dallas Theater Center. The production begins in Fort Worth, running Sept. 24-Oct. 2 at Casa, and then Oct. 21-Nov. 20 at the Wyly Theatre in Dallas.

Crombie was the replacement for Bob Martin as the Man in Chair in The Drowsy Chaperone on Broadway, and also performed that role in tour, including the stop that came to Dallas. You might know him as the young Gilbert Blythe in the 1985 TV movie version of Anne of Green Gables, a role to which he returned in 2000's Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story. And if you were a fan of the terrific Slings and Arrows, he was the playwright, Lionel, in the Macbeth season (the second). A video clip of Crombie in that role is embedded below.

Casa and DTC are also launching a Community Read of Harper Lee's classic novel, and related events will include a film screening of the 1962 film at the Fort Worth Public Library and elsewhere, screenings of the documentary Hey Boo, and more. Here's more on all that.

Here's the rest of the cast for Mockingbird, which is directed by Wendy Dann, and is heavily local:

Morgan Richards as Scout

David Allen Norton as Jem

James Dybas as Bob Ewell

Aidan Langford as Dill

Van Quattro as Boo Radley

Akron Watson as Tom Robinson

Anastasia Munoz as Mayella

Pam Dougherty as Mrs. Dubose

Greg Dulcie as Judge Taylor and Walter Cunningham, Sr.

Matthew Gray as Heck Tate

Bob Hess as Mr. Gilmer

Akin Babatunde as Reverend Sykes

Denise Lee as Calpurnia

Sally Vahle as Miss Maudie Atkinson

Dawson Holder as Walter

Bob Reed as Doctor and Clerk