In ‘Mockingbird,’ a deaf actor finally gets his wish: Not to be defined solely by deafness
November 14, 2019 at 1:00 p.m. GMT+1
By Peter Marks
NEW YORK — Russell Harvard has been waiting not so patiently for this his entire career. And now, at long last, for a deaf actor channeled inexorably into deaf roles, the moment has arrived:
Playing a hearing character.
Harvard is part of the (mostly) new cast of Broadway’s hit production of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” with Ed Harris following Jeff Daniels as Atticus Finch and LisaGay Hamilton succeeding LaTanya Richardson as the housekeeper Calpurnia. Harvard assumes two supporting parts: Boo Radley, the mysterious, rarely seen neighbor of the intimidated youngsters, Scout and Jem Finch, and more prominently Link Deas, the inscrutable local dismissed as a drunk.
And here’s the thing that blew away Harvard, recently seen here as a demonstrably deaf Cornwall in the Glenda Jackson “King Lear”: Neither producer Scott Rudin, nor director Bartlett Sher, wanted him to play Link or Boo as deaf.
Related Article
Netflix and Sign Language: A Look at Key Projects
No Words Needed: the new Netflix film
