Can We Mock a Mockingbird?

Ah, the saintly Atticus Finch, his daughter Scout and his boy Jem — such a pure-hearted and forthright trio of the nobler kind of Southern white people. How good they were. How kind. How treacly, like a big mouthful of sweet cornbread smothered in molasses. OK, so maybe that last comment is a bit harsh. After all, the nuclear family at the center of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning To Kill a Mockingbird has been beloved by thousands of high school English students in the decades since the novel was published in 1960. Its story of lawyer Atticus’ efforts to save a black man wrongly accused of rape in a 1930s Southern town is certainly uplifting. Some may argue that it’s also melodramatic, naive and overloaded with a simplistic, moralistic tone. (Not us. Nope, only those serious literature-criticizin’ egghead types would dare besmirch the holy Finches.) Ignore those pinko elitists and just enjoy the Dallas Theater Center’s staged production of the tale, taking place in the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre at the AT&T Performing Arts Center, 2400 Flora St. The show runs until November 20, and opening night is Friday at 8 p.m. Other performances will be 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, with select 7:30 p.m. Sunday performances. Tickets for To Kill a Mockingbird are available by calling the box office at 214-880-0202 or by visiting dallastheatercenter.org.

Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, Sundays, 2 p.m.; Tuesdays-Thursdays, 7:30 p.m. Starts: Oct. 21. Continues through Nov. 20, 2011