Mockingbird Fly was produced in the fall of 2008 in partnership with the UVU Contemporary Dance Emsemble.
It was a part of the Orem City Library's Big Read of To Kill a Mockingbird.
The show combined dance, music, folktales and stories to look at the issues of race raised in the book by Harper Lee.
Martin Luther King said:
Keep this movement going.
Keep this movement rolling, in spite of the difficulties and we’re going to have a few more difficulties.
Keep calm. Keep moving!
If you can’t fly, run!
If you can’t run, walk.
If you can’t walk, crawl.
But by all means, keep moving.
The stories used were primary source narratives from young people who lived through race issues from the times of slavery up to the civil rights era.
Here are some of the comments we recieved from UVU students who saw the show:
“The play helped me become more aware of the trials the African American went through during that period of time. I also came to see their determination and [the] struggles they went through to receive their rights and liberties as citizens of the United States of America. Throughout the play they talked about how we still are facing some of these same issues and how we can take a stand.”
“It was truly inspirational and you could feel the emotion. I loved the drums; it made my heart beat fast as [they] grew faster and louder. This production made me want to cry when remembering what the slaves went through, how hard it must have been for these wonderful people. They had so much hope to go on. How amazing they were to go through such a hard trial.”
“It was so crazy to hear how many things they had to go through to get rid of the Jim Crow laws. I had always heard it was hard but it didn’t really have the same aspect of seeing it acted out.”
“I read “To Kill a Mockingbird” in 8th grade, but many things did not click until now. They told or acted out specific events that happened in a real person’s life and because of this it made it more personal and in return it had more effect on me.”
“I hadn’t heard of many of the people that they spoke about and the small ways that they stood up for their freedoms. I love how small acts of what was once considered rebellion and defiance are now seen as acts of heroism, showing that just because people don’t agree with what we are doing at the time, does not mean that that action is wrong, but rather that the minds of society are not yet as developed as they should be.”