In May of 2023 The Mockingbird on Main lost its performance space through the collapse of the historic Hotel Davenport. Rising from the rubble that July, through the generosity of Black Hawk College’s offer of its performance space, they were able to stage a stunning production of Tennessee William’s The Glass Menagerie followed by To Kill a Mockingbird using The Black Box Theatre’s stage. Sadly, they were unable to continue until NOW. Co-founders Tristran Layne Tapscott and his wife Savannah Bay Strandin have partnered with BHC to resurrect Mockingbird to produce “professional-caliber theatre that is accessible, educational and deeply connected to the community.
Their inaugural production, directed by Tapscott, under this new collaboration is the Arthur Miller classic, Death of a Salesman and it is a breathtaking performance of Miller’s seminal work. It focuses on the tragic life of traveling salesman Willy Loman, his wife Linda, and their strained relationships with their sons, Biff and Happy, as they grapple with the failures and illusions of the American Dream. The main message of this play is a sharp critique of a false American Dream. It shows that measuring human worth by material wealth, status, and popularity—rather than genuine hard work and personal truth—leads to deep unhappiness and ruin.
Miller explained that Death of a Salesman was an experiment in staging memory where past and present happen at the same time. He noted it is a play about a terrified man calling into the void. He also viewed it as a critique of the harsh pressure to chase success. Miller viewed the story as a critique of society's obsession with wealth and the false idea that being liked brings success.
I could go on and on parsing analyses of its themes but let’s get on to this performance. One of my theatre spies told me that opening night experienced some bumps. I can assure you that those blips were corrected and Saturday’s show appeared to be nearly flawless.
In the iconic role of Willy Lohman is the amazing Jim Driscoll. His Lohman is tortured and passionate as Willy descends further and further into self-destruction. As Willy’s wife, Linda, is Emmalee Hillburn. I have seen Emmalee in several productions that were all ditzy comic roles. Her dramatic performance as this tragic, ill-fated character is platinum quality. Also standing out is Benjamin David as the tormented Biff who struggles mightily to rise to his father’s expectations. His impassioned scene finally confronting Willy is atomic.
Tapscott’s set design reflects Willy’s increasing frustration and feeling of suffocation. The set is an array of old, dirty salvaged windows that extend across the rear of the stage hemming Willy in. Some have broken panes and some show where someone has wiped away the grime and characters from Willy’s past peer through them.
Tapscott’s lighting design is unique. During retrospective scenes where Willy relives his past, light projections that resemble the neurofibrillary tangles of a brain effected by Alzheimer’s Disease bathe the action of Willy’s exasperation.
This is a cosmic production of a monumental classic that should not be missed.
Death of a Salesman by Mockingbird on Main continues in Building One of the Black Hawk College Campus in Moline Thursday through Saturday, August 27 through 29 at 7:30 pm. Enter the building through the south entrance and hang left where you will be swept up into this tale. Mockingbird’s collaboration with Black Hawk College has adopted the “pay what it’s worth” model, meaning you choose what to pay on your way out so cost is no excuse to skip this phenomenal show.
I’m Chris Hicks…break a leg.