Nina Grollman had some big shoes to fill when she succeeded Celia Keenan-Bolger鈥檚 Tony-winning performance as the next Scout Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird on Broadway. Luckily, she鈥檚 practiced at it. Grollman played The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee鈥檚 Olive Ostrovsky in high school as well as Molly in Peter and the Starcatcher鈥攂oth roles originated by Keenan-Bolger. 鈥淚鈥檝e been a fan forever and the fact that I鈥檓 stepping into her beautifully crafted shoes now is pretty surreal,鈥� says Grollman.
But the fact that both actors have Olive and Scout in their blood may not be such a coincidence. 鈥淭here鈥檚 definitely a sort of weakness and a yearning for love and connection that threads those two characters together. You want to give them both a hug,鈥� she continues. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e such lovable little creatures trying to find their way in the world, [though] Scout puts up a tougher exterior.鈥�
Still, Grollman attacks the part fresh with the all-new cast that began performances together November 5. 鈥淢y main discovery is excavating more and more about Harper Lee and her connection to this character and how that informs my performance,鈥� says Grollman. As she digs into Scout, the daughter of the white attorney defending an innocent black man in 1936 Alabama, Grollman considers the author of the original character as the real-life basis for that character.
And as Grollman learns more about Lee, she marries the child who grew up in Alabama and the woman who moved to New York City, unearthing fodder for her dual roles as Mockingbird鈥檚 narrator and female protagonist. 鈥淚鈥檝e been reading Go Set a Watchmen, from a 26-year-old Jean Louise Finch point of view,鈥� she says. 鈥淸Reconciling] the eight-year-old lens, which is putting Atticus on a pedestal, and then later in Go Set a Watchmen he comes off that pedestal and he鈥檚 a human being with flaws. Aaron鈥檚 script married these two versions of Atticus in a very tactful way.鈥�
But Grollman also relates to Lee, and, therefore, Scout on a unique level. 鈥淲e鈥檙e both very gender nonconforming kids,鈥� Grollman says. 鈥淪he鈥檚 constantly confronted with these questions of her gender and how she鈥檚 not quite fitting into the mold, and she鈥檚 always wearing overalls. But the lovely thing is: she never really questions herself.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 where I really identified with her,鈥� Grollman continues, 鈥渂ecause growing up I would always dress as a boy and I鈥檇 get a lot of questions from other kids and sometimes adults too, just being like, 鈥楢re you a boy or a girl?鈥� and depending on the day I鈥檇 answer 鈥榖oy鈥� or I鈥檇 answer 鈥榞irl.鈥� It depended on my mood, but I never deeply questioned that. I just sort of did it because it felt right. It wasn鈥檛 something I was deeply investigating in myself at the time. It was just something I did, and I see that in Scout, too.鈥�
Scout鈥檚 gender fluidity isn鈥檛 a plot point or a point of contention, it鈥檚 merely a filter. 鈥淪cout鈥檚 queerness is not explicitly brought up or talked about, but lives in my performance because it can鈥檛 help but live there,鈥� she adds. Through that lens, Grollman inhabits Scout in an original way鈥攁 young girl comfortable with herself, a girl being in a world that tells her she is wrong while propagating outright injustice in the courtroom and on the front porch. How does she, a queer youngster, reconcile the people who say her 鈥渢omboy-ish鈥� ways are wrong but lynching a black man is right?
She may not grapple with her gender identity, but Scout certainly wrestles with the type of person she wants to be鈥攁nd her queerness (whether named or not) impacts that. And Grollman鈥檚 own experiences influence a calibrated performance that leans on questions.
鈥淚 want people to see that she doesn鈥檛 have all the answers about who her father was and how to deal with racial injustice,鈥� says Grollman. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 really the question that the piece poses to the audience.鈥�
