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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday May 9, 2007 - 39 Artscene Oakville Beaver · WEDNESDAY, MAY 9 Young actor ready for first Stratford role By Krissie Rutherford OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF While students at Spencer Walker's school are reading To Kill a Mockingbird, he'll be living it. The Grade 7 Rotherglen School student has been talking in a deep south accent and wearing 1930s clothing for months now ­ it's all part of the role. Spencer plays Dill in the Stratford Festival production of Harper Lee's classic American story, which opens May 30 at the Avon Theatre. "He's kind of nerdy," Spencer, 13, said of Dill. "I would describe him as uneasy, and kind of depressed." Dill is the boy who befriends Scout and Jem, the two other main kids in the Pulitzer prize-winning story. They're the children of Atticus Finch, an attorney appointed to defend a black man wrongly accused of raping a white woman. The story, set in 1930s Alabama, is told through Scout. "Dill and Scout have a really strong relationship. Later in the play Scout calls Dill her childhood fiancé," said Spencer. "Dill and Jem are just really good friends." The bond with these kids over the summer, which is when they first meet after Dill's parents ship him off to live with a relative, is an important one. "Dill doesn't think his parents love him because they're RON KUZYK / OAKVILLE BEAVER A DILL-Y OF A ROLE: Spencer Walker will be performing in the Stratford production of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. The 13-year-old plays Dill, a friend of two kids whose father defends a black man wrongly accused of rape in Alabama in the 1930s. always off by themselves, reading and doing other things," Spencer explained. "He goes and lives with Jem and Scout ­ he likes them because they're actually like family." The story is one of coming of age for the three young kids, and told with the backdrop of 1930s race relations in the deep south. "It's about the great depression and how blacks were treated really differently than whites," Spencer said. "It's about a man who defends a black man and even though it was so obvious he was not guilty, they still find him guilty. "It tells a lot about how back then, things were so different." Not only is he acting in a different time period, but Spencer also says he and Dill don't have much in common ­ which he likes. "I love it, it's so fun. I like being able to not be myself, to be another person," he said. It's easy to remember he's acting a part once he gets into costume and starts talking in his deep south accent. "I have a really nerdy costume, and they style my hair all down and they gave me a mushroom cut," he said, smiling. "Dill wears shorts up to his belly button and a shirt that's kind of too small." As for mastering the era, the cast was given a history lesson about the 1930s. "It's really fun to go back in time ­ it's so different from anything I've done," Spencer said. With four commercials, a TV pilot and a role in Our Town at the Soul Pepper Theatre in Toronto last year already under his belt, Spencer says To Kill a Mockingbird is by far the biggest departure for him as a actor. He bit the acting bug in Grade 2. "Me and my friends in Grade 2, before the play, we joined the drama club at our school, just because, and I really loved it," he said. "They were like, this is fun, but I really, really loved it." Under the direction of teacher Amanda Nawn, Spencer got into acting at Rotherglen. He played the lead role in his school's production of Oliver in Grade 3, and was also cast in major roles in Rotherglen's productions of The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz and Mary Poppins. For Spencer, the commercials, TV pilot and this role as Dill came along after he got an agent. Not only is Stratford a big role, but it's a big time commitment ­ especially for a Grade 7 student. Spencer's mom, Heidi, has been home schooling him since February with the support of Rotherglen. The school gives her the lessons, and also marks the work once Spencer has completed it. "Rehearsal is six times a week, so he really couldn't do this and go to school," his mom said. In fact, Heidi and Spencer have an apartment in Stratford and come home to Oakville only on Spencer's few days off. There won't be many of those once the play opens at the end of the month. To Kill a Mockingbird will be performed 78 times in Stratford until it closes October 27. Spencer will play Dill in 71 of the shows, and an understudy will take care of the seven other performances. "It's busy ­ it's really busy," said Heidi. "It's been a big sacrifice for the whole family, but it's what he wants to do with the rest of his life so we thought we'd give him a chance." And Spencer is loving it. "It's a lot of time, but it's so much fun," he said. Compared with commercials and TV acting, Spencer says he much prefers theatre. "Commercials are just shot in one day and you don't get to know anybody," he said. "Theatre is so much different. It's longer, you get to know everyone, and it's kind of like a big family." And the fact that a packed Avon Theatre sits 1,072 people doesn't intimidate Spencer. "I don't mind when people watch me," he said, smiling. "I just like acting in front of people ­ I don't know why." In September, Spencer will be starting Grade 8, and his class will be reading To Kill A Mockingbird. They'll also be paying a visit to Stratford to watch one of their classmates in action. We Know MORTGAGES LOANS · LINE OF CREDIT "We specialize in hard to place mortgages" 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Mortgages Residential and Commercial Debt Consolidation Power of Sale Refinancing No Up Front Fees Up to 100% Financing O.A.C. 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