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BY ROZELLA HARDIN
Editorial Director
rozella.hardin@elizabethton.com
Travis Johns, who grew up in Elizabethton and attended Elizabethton High School, where he played football, has a supporting role in the First National Tour of the history-making production of “To Kill A Mockingbird.”
Academy Award winner Aaron Sorkin’s new play, “To Kill A Mockingbird,” is based on Harper Lee’s classic novel. The production is scheduled to play a multi-year national tour across North America.
Starring in the critically acclaimed production is Emmy Award-winning actor Richard Thomas as Atticus Finch. Thomas is perhaps best known for his role, John Boy, in the television classic “The Waltons.”
Johns plays the role of Mr. Cunningham in “To Kill A Mockingbird,” which comes to Broadway for the first time in a new adaptation by Aaron Sorkin and directed by Bartlett Sher.
This new interpretation of the beloved, iconic American story by Harper Lee retells the story of one of literature’s towering symbols of integrity and righteousness, Atticus Finch, in a way made even more poignant for today. Told by Atticus’s daughter, Scout, based on herself, the viewer sees a world of pain and inequity through the eyes of youthful innocence.
The national tour of “To Kill A Mockingbird” launched this week at Shea’s Performing Arts Center in Buffalo, N.Y., and is scheduled for productions in Boston, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago, Cincinnati, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Charlotte, and Nashville, just to name a few of the places where the performances will take place.
Johns, who is the son of Susie Johns of Elizabethton, graduated from Wake Forest University, where he received a full scholarship in football. He played wide receiver for the Demon Deacons.
After a career ending college football injury, Johns spent a year studying Art History, Theatre, and English in London, England. He also worked as a ranch hand in Montana before landing a job in Los Angeles.
Johns is an actor and director, known for Danny Collins and Term Life. He starred on stage with Jeff Goldblum in “The Exonerated.” He also played James T in the West Coast premiere of “Barbecue,” written by Robert O’Hara and directed by Coleman Domingo.
Other film credits include Dead Man Rising, The Dancing Bull, America Is Still the Place, About Scout, Swelter, A Lesson of Love, Holiday Road Trip, Sound of My Voice, Adventures of Power, Short Track, and The Gentleman Don La Mancha.
Television credits include TNT’s Agent X, ABC’s Agent Carter, Showtime’s Ray Donovan, CBS’ 2 Broke Girls, FX’s Sons of Anarchy, FX’s Justified, TNT’s Southland, FX’s Nip/Tuck, CBS’ The Mentalist, TNT’s The Closer, and NBC’s Days of Our Lives.
Johns has worked on stages all over the country and had a supporting role in the National Tour of “In The Heat of the Night.”