Kate Haugan was standing backstage early that afternoon about three weeks ago, waiting to be fitted with a wireless microphone. In less than an hour, she and the rest of the cast members would take the stage at the Jewish Community Center here for the final performance of \u201cTo Kill a Mockingbird.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
The play was adapted, of course, from Harper Lee\u2019s classic novel about the confrontation between bigotry and tolerance in 1930s Alabama, and it fit into this particular Jewish Community Center\u2019s taste for drama with a conscience: \u201cThe Laramie Project,\u201d\u009d \u201cNext to Normal,\u201d\u009d \u201cThe Diary of Anne Frank.\u201d\u009d Even more than the others, \u201cTo Kill a Mockingbird\u201d\u009d had proved a roaring success, nearly selling out the five previous shows.<\/p>\n
Just then, the stage manager, Jayson Chandley, raced past Ms. Haugan, shouting: \u201cThere\u2019s a shooter out front! Stay out of the hallways!\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n