Bookworms everywhere were grinning rebelliously for much of last week.

For those of you whose school libraries have not been inundated with displays featuring titles like JRR Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings, Toni Morrison’s Beloved or James Joyce’s Ulysses, I can tell you exactly what you were missing out on: Banned Books Week!

Even if you missed the banned book readings at the Free Library, the University of the Arts is keeping the spirit alive in staging Harper Lee’s formerly banned classic, To Kill a Mockingbird.

Though now a staple in English curriculum and hailed as “the book everybody should read” by the Museum, Libraries and Archives Council (Mockingbird beat the Bible in this poll which asked librarians “Which book should every adult read before they die?”), this timeless story wasn’t always embraced in American classrooms.

Because of profanity and its controversial approach to racism in the South, certain libraries and school systems over the years have removed Lee’s only novel from their shelves.

This coming-of-age drama, loosely based on Harper Lee’s own life, recounts the life of the Finch family and wrestles with issue of prejudice within the small community of Maycomb, Alabama. Told through Scout Finch’s young perspective, the story culminates in the court trial where her father Atticus defends an unjustly accused black man, risking it all for the sake of principle.

UArts’ Brind School is bringing the stage adaptation to the Philadelphia Arts Bank (601 S. Broad St.) under the expert direction of Amy Feinberg with a cast of talented UArts Theatre Arts students.

Feinberg takes Scout’s character to heart, she expresses in the production’s news release. As a Jewish Southerner, she “experienced blatant discrimination” during her childhood. She is excited to stage Mockingbird because of the play’s ability to call on memory “for the sake of being able to learn lessons that were taught once again as an adult.”

To Kill a Mockingbirdwill be showing Oct. 9-10 and 15-17 at 8 p.m. and Oct. 10, 11 and 17 at 2 p.m.; tickets cost $20 for general admission and $10 for non-UArts students (UArts students get in free!).

For more information visit the UArts website.