Aaron Sorkin, who adapted To Kill a Mockingbird for the stage, also wrote The Farnsworth Invention, the story of boy genius Philo T. Farnsworth, who moved with his family to Rigby, Idaho, and started experimenting with electricity. In 1920, a 14-year-old Farnsworth showed his chemistry teacher his design for an electronic television, which was said to be inspired by Farnsworth plowing a potato field, with the parallel rows prompting his notion of television scan lines. Farnsworth would go on to race against David Sarnoff, the president of RCA and America’s first communications mogul, to be the sole inventor of the greatest invention of the 20th century: television. While both Farnsworth and Sarnoff are credited with the development of T.V., Farnsworth was awarded the first patents and thereby made possible all the video in the modern world.

Signs at the city limits of Rigby, Idaho, proclaim it “The Birthplace of Television.” The Farnsworth TV and Pioneer Museum continues to tell Farnsworth’s story as a local inventor with their exhibits to this day.

Christopher R. Ellis, who plays Horace Gilmer – the prosecutor in the Tom Robinson trial that faces off against Atticus Finch – in To Kill a Mockingbird, was born in Pocatello, Idaho, where he first began performing in plays. He also received his Bachelor of Arts in theater from Idaho State University.

Bartlett Sher, director of Sorkin’s stage adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird, was once a resident director and associate artist at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival from 1992-1999. Sher directed the revival of My Fair Lady that visited Boise for the 2023-2024 season this past November as well.

Associate director of To Kill a Mockingbird, Sari Ketter, has also directed at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival: An Ideal Husband (2010), The Foreigner (2013), and Steel Magnolias (2014).