Westfield 'Scout' Earns Merit Badge

Emmanuelle Nadeau says she wants to be an actor when she grows up, and it looks like she’s headed in the right direction.

Westfield’s Emmanuelle is making her professional acting debut by playing Scout Finch in The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s production of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which is on stage at the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre in Madison through Nov. 20.

The 12-year-old seventh grader at Edison Intermediate School has been taking acting classes since fourth grade, has appeared in community productions, and sang in a New Voices concert at Paper Mill Playhouse, but a role at The Shakespeare Theatre is a big step. She is acting alongside professional actors with major stage and TV credits. And while she’s excited about donning Scout’s overalls, she sounded calm and confident about handling the role.

“I was really happy when I found out I got the role,” Emmanuelle said. “And everyone in the cast is really nice and all the adults are supportive and they help us out and they give us tips.”

Scout isn’t the stereotypical, precocious-kid role that generations of sitcoms have conditioned us to expect. She’s a pivotal character in the play, which Christopher Sergel adapted from Harper Lee’s beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning book, published in 1960. Set in Maycomb, a fictionalized version of Lee’s hometown of Monroeville, Ala., the play follows Scout, a tough-talking tomboy who gets into scraps with other kids, idolizes her widowed father, Atticus (play by Brent Harris), and longs to get a glimpse of the town’s recluse Boo Radley (Jake Berger).

“She’s a tomboy and she speaks her mind,” Emmanuelle said. “She doesn’t let anything stop her and I think that’s really cool because she’s not self-conscious at all, she just goes with what she believes in and doesn’t let anybody stop her.”

The story is set during the depression. Atticus is a lawyer who defends Tom Robinson (Ray Fisher) who is accused of attacking a white woman. In taking on the case, Atticus must face the racism that exists in the town, standing alone for what he knows is right. The story is told through the eyes of Scout.

“She’s doing phenomenally well,” said Joseph Discher, who’s directing the play, of Emmanuelle. “I feel very lucky to have her playing this role. She’s an exceptional, young actress. She’s very perceptive, she has really great instincts and she takes direction really well, she’s a good listener and she understands what’s going on. She’s very professional. I feel blessed to have her in this part.”

There are two other young actors in the play, Ethan Haberfield who plays Scout’s friend Dill (whom Lee based on her childhood friend Truman Capote) and Frankie Seratch as Scout’s brother, Jem.

Finding the right kid actors for these parts was a big concern for Discher and the crew behind “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

“They all have big parts to play and of course Scout is the quintessential iconic role in people’s minds,” he says. “We were definitely very concerned about finding kids that were good and talented and the right age for it and right for the role.”

“We did a lot of searching, we did a lot of auditioning to find our kids and to find our Scout and we knew when (Emmanuelle) walked in the room that she was the one… When she started reading it, you just felt really connected to her and affected by what she was doing.”

Emmanuelle lives with her mother, Erin, and her father Gary, who directs short films and helps Emmanuelle with auditions. In preparation for her Scout audition, she read the script and watched the 1962 movie adaptation of “To Kill a Mockingbird” starring Gregory Peck as Atticus and Mary Badham as Scout. (Badham, incidentally will host talks at the Shakespeare Theatre on Oct. 7 and 8.)

Discher said kids from New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia auditioned for the play, and that Emmanuel got the part over young actors with professional experience.

“There’s a certain natural quality about Emmy,” he said. “You can find great kids who have some professional acting experience but sometimes it also works in your favor when a kid doesn’t have a lot of professional experience… because there’s bit more of a natural quality to what they do and how they listen and how they respond.”

For Emmanuelle, the fun of acting comes from transforming into another person.

“I just like being on stage and getting to be somebody else,” she said. “You can be somebody else but still be yourself, it’s cool to be on stage and tell a story to people.”

“To Kill a Mockingbird” is on stage at The  Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey through Nov. 20. The theater is located at 36 Madison Ave. in Madison. Tickets cost $40-$50. For tickets and information, call 973-408-5600 or visit www.ShakespeareNJ.org.