Jacqueline Williams has been playing Calpurnia in “To Kill a Mockingbird” since the national tour went on the road in March 2022, and the Evanston native still considers this story to be as important as ever. A regular presence on local stages, Williams has appeared in productions at Steppenwolf, Goodman, Court, Victory Gardens and Northlight theaters, among others. When she appears in Chicago on the tour this August, audiences will have a new chance to see Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of Harper Lee’s 1960 novel about racism, injustice and coming of age in 1930s Alabama.

Directed by Bartlett Sher, “To Kill a Mockingbird” holds the record for the highest-grossing American play in the history of Broadway, where it ran from 2018 to 2020 and briefly returned post-COVID shutdown in 2021-22. In addition to the U.S. tour, the production transferred to London’s West End in 2022 and played for more than a year.

Many of Williams’ fellow cast members from last year’s Chicago run are still with the touring company, including Richard Thomas as small-town lawyer Atticus Finch and Mary Badham — who played Scout Finch in the 1962 film — as Mrs. Dubose, the Finches’ antagonistic neighbor.

“I’m pretty much a lifelong fan of the book and the film,” Williams told the Tribune in a recent interview. “All these decades, I never imagined there would be a live theater treatment for it.”

When “To Kill a Mockingbird” opened on Broadway, Calpurnia was played by Tony nominee LaTanya Richardson Jackson, “a wonderful woman” who “I go way back with,” said Williams. When the opportunity to join the first national tour came along, Williams was happy to take on the role.

Calpurnia, a Black woman, works as a cook and housekeeper for the Finches and is a maternal figure to Scout (Maeve Moynihan) and Jem (Justin Mark). “Those who know the book and know the film remember Calpurnia from those,” said Williams. “But the brilliant Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation has greatly fleshed out the role of Calpurnia and the role of Tom,” the Black man (Yaegel T. Welch) who is falsely accused of sexually assaulting a white woman.

“She’s wise, she’s witty, she’s funny, she’s honest,” said Williams of her character in the play. Her relationship with Atticus is the central relationship in the live theater piece, and it’s really beautiful.”

“They have a trust between them, so they are free to disagree with each other, go toe to toe,” she continued. “They’re confidants of each other, and there are many things that Calpurnia schools Atticus on — in terms of things from the Black perspective in Maycomb, Alabama, in 1934 — that he couldn’t possibly know.”

More than 60 years after the novel was published, Williams feels a responsibility to continue telling this story. “It is, unfortunately, still extremely relevant, probably even more so now than in ‘34 when the story takes place, or in ‘60 when Miss Harper Lee wrote it,” she said. “We’ve made very little progress, and we still have a lot of work to do, so we still need this story.”

“And now, with the digital age, everything is recorded, everything is captured. For many years, people could selectively not be aware of certain injustices and things that are going on,” Williams continued. “But now, every time you open your phone, you open your tablet or your computer, or turn on the TV — almost on a daily basis — we are getting some story, some video of yet another act of racism or another act of injustice. It’s harder to conveniently ignore now.”

Williams believes that coming together to experience a play like “To Kill a Mockingbird” can be a meaningful way to move forward. “If we can just start from a place of trying to have some common respect and understanding of each other, that can take us a long way to positive change and empathy.”

“Through the years, I have seen firsthand the power of live theater — how live theater is not just entertaining, but it can also be enlightenment,” she said. “It can also be a healing, and that is just incredible — all that, rolled up in a short evening of theater, is really powerful.”

Williams looks forward to bringing “To Kill a Mockingbird” back to Chicago, where she got her start as a student at the Goodman School of Drama (now the Theatre School at DePaul University). “I’m very proud to call Chicago my home base,” she said. “The caliber of work here has always been, I feel, really unmatched.”

“The other thing I love about our Chicago arts community, and specifically our theater community, is we’re very supportive and nurturing of each other,” she continued. “I think that is a beautiful gift that we have here, and I’ve never seen it quite like that anywhere else.”

Williams’ wish for the audiences who come to see “To Kill a Mockingbird” is that the experience will spark meaningful dialogue. “I hope when they leave, that if they don’t have a conversation with others, that at least with themselves — themselves and God — that they think about, ‘What have I done in my life to make things better? What can I do, moving forward from this day, to make things better?’”

Despite the sobering subject matter, Williams noted that there are also plenty of lighthearted moments in the play. “When people come, they’re surprised that there’s so much laughter in it. There’s a lot of joy, a lot of wonder,” she said. “There’s sadness, but there’s also hope — so it’s really a beautiful, full evening at the theater.”

“To Kill a Mockingbird” plays Aug. 8-13 at the CIBC Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St.; tickets $35-$114 at broadwayinchicago.com

Emily McClanathan is a freelance critic.