Professor, Alumnae Perform in Atlanta Bard Show’s 'Mock the Vote' Nov. 10-12

The Atlanta Bar Association’s Bard Show returns on Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 10-12, with a timely production, “Mock the Vote,” at SCADShow theatre. The original musical theatre production is written, produced and performed by more than seventy local lawyers and judges.

“This is a talented group,” said Margaret Vath, senior lecturer of law, who performs in and produces the musical. “People will be amazed by the quality of singing and dancing. It’s really remarkable the level of talent we have in the legal community.”

Many of the performers have some background in theatre and the arts. Vath has been performing in musicals since she was a child and became involved with The Bard Show in 1999, shortly after it launched. “When I saw the Atlanta Bar Association put on a musical theatre production, I thought, ‘this would be a perfect fit for me,’” she said.

The not-quite annual production is a musical parody with a legal focus, featuring a live band. All songs are parodies of popular Broadway show tunes, rock and roll and pop music hits with original lyrics, Vath said. Previous productions have focused on a murder mystery at an offsite CLE, law school musical (a play on the High School Musical series), lawyers stranded on a desert island (when the TV show Lost was popular), and a medical malpractice trial.

This year’s plot centers on a Georgia State Bar presidential election and portrays the behind the scenes shenanigans that occur in many campaigns.

“Each year the writers and producers try to weave in topical, timely issues, jokes or spoofs,” said Elizabeth Wharton (J.D. ’03), an attorney at Hall Booth Smith who has been in the musical since she graduated law school. She was motivated to join the group by her father, Les Wharton, who was a longtime Bard Show actor, writer, and assistant director. The two shared the stage in several productions.

In “Mock the Vote,” Wharton, an expert in drone law, plays a lawyer defending a hacker who uses drones to research political candidates. In previous productions, Wharton’s willingness to “embarrass myself to entertain and raise money for a good cause” won her roles as a Paris Hilton caricature and Hooters air stewardess.

The Bard Show is a refuge from the demanding of practice of law, said Nikole Crow (B.A. ’97, J.D. ’02), a lawyer in Womble Carlyle’s business litigation practice group, who was a theatre major as an undergrad.

“Every once in a while, you need to get out and sing and dance and make fun of things, and that is what we do,” said Crow, this year’s program chair.

Crow, Wharton and Vath all said the strong bonds formed among the participants enriches the experience.

“We are like a big family,” Crow said. “I initially got involved because I wanted a creative outlet for that part of my life that I missed, but I soon started making friends. It’s a different way of connecting with the people we spend our professional life with. In rehearsals, we aren’t talking about practicing law, we are talking about dance steps and lines — one year I put eyeliner on Judge [Jackson] Bedford—it allows you to interact in ways that you wouldn’t have otherwise. And that makes it more rewarding when you do work together, even as adversaries in court.”

Viewers also get to see another side of local legal professionals, Wharton said.

“It’s a fun opportunity to see your colleagues, judges, professors, in a different light,” she said. “Many have professional quality talent – you will have a new appreciation when you have to argue in front of them.”

While the topic is centered on the legal world, the production draws its audience from a wide swath of the public. “The humor and the appeal is broad enough for everyone to get it,” Vath said. “My husband, who is not a lawyer, comes every year and laughs just as uproariously as any of the lawyers.”

The event is the largest fundraiser for the Atlanta Bar Foundation, the charitable arm of the Atlanta Bar Association. Over the years, the production has raised nearly $300,000 to support the Summer Law Internship program, the Truancy Intervention Program, various pro bono efforts and a scholarship fund for children of police officers killed or injured in the line of duty.

The fundraising aspect is just as important as the entertainment and camaraderie, Crow said, and is what motivates them to donate countless hours to rehearsals and production of the musical. “We all care about the causes we do this for,” she said.