Richard Thomas to play Atticus Finch in 'To Kill A Mockingbird' in Thousand Oaks

“Waltons” star Richard Thomas is knocking heroic lawyer Atticus Finch off his pedestal for an upcoming show in Thousand Oaks.

Thomas said he’s working to make Finch more down-to-earth in a stage version of “To Kill A Mockingbird.” He has starred as the attorney in a national tour of the show for more than two years.

That tour will come to a close with performances starting Tuesday through Sunday at the Fred Kavli Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd.

The play will mark the first time Thomas, 73, has acted on stage in Ventura County, which he said he visited sometimes when he lived in Los Angeles from the 1970s through the early 2000s.

“Ventura County is beautiful,” said Thomas, a New York City native and resident who played John-Boy Walton on the long-running CBS drama that launched in the early 1970s.

His current play is based on Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1960 novel about a lawyer defending a Black man wrongly accused of raping a white woman during the Depression in Alabama.

Thomas praised “West Wing” creator Aaron Sorkin, who wrote the stage adaptation, for making Finch more than just someone who’s easy to admire.

“Aaron has given him a wonderful sense of humor and given him a lot to learn,” he said.

Both the book and a 1962 movie adaptation are popular, but Thomas said he isn't emulating the approach used by Gregory Peck in his Oscar-winning role as Finch.

“That ain’t happening,” Thomas said, laughing.

“There could not be two more different actors than me and Greg Peck,” he said, later praising Peck and the movie.

One of the Oscar-nominated actors from the film will be on stage in Thousand Oaks.

Mary Badham, who was 10 when she played Finch’s tomboy daughter Scout in the movie, portrays Mrs. Dubose, a racist neighbor.

Sorkin’s script gives great depth to two key Black characters, Thomas said: Finch's housekeeper, Calpurnia, and rape defendant Tom Robinson.

The story’s commentary on civil rights remains relevant today, he added.

“The play allows us to see how far we’ve come, but how far we have to go,” said Thomas, who will begin rehearsals later this summer when he plays a newspaper editor in Broadway's revival of "Our Town."

Curtain rises at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets for the American Theatre Guild presentation vary from $50 to $130. To purchase, go to bapacthousandoaks.com or americantheatreguild.com/thousandoaks.

Dave Mason covers East County for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached at [email protected] or 805-437-0232.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Richard Thomas stars in 'To Kill A Mockingbird' in Thousand Oaks