View source for The Ebbtide 42/2/The Crucible Will Dramatize Witch Trials, Intolerance

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''The Ebbtide'' 42/2/''The Crucible'' Will Dramatize Witch Trials, Intolerance}}
{{header
 | title      = ''The Crucible'' Will Dramatize Witch Trials, Intolerance
 | author     = Ivanhoe
 | section    = A&E
 | previous   = 
 | next       = 
 | notes      = ''[[The Ebbtide]]'' Vol. 42, No. 2 (20 Oct &ndash; 2 Nov 2006), p. 8
}}

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<font size="5">''The Crucible'' Will Dramatize<br>Witch Trials, Intolerance</font>


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{{sc|by Ivanhoe, ''Staff Writer''}}


{{tab}}Ear&shy;lier this month, Shore&shy;line Com&shy;mun&shy;ity Col&shy;lege{{s}} drama de&shy;part&shy;ment cast for the roles in {{w|Ar&shy;thur Miller|Arthur_Miller}}{{s}}, ''{{w|The Cru&shy;cible|The_Crucible}}.'' The play is due for a six-<wbr>day en&shy;gage&shy;ment in the campus the&shy;ater in early Decem&shy;ber. I had the op&shy;por&shy;tun&shy;ity to at&shy;tend a re&shy;hear&shy;sal and in&shy;ter&shy;view the actors about the play, and I was a little sur&shy;prised at how quickly the con&shy;ver&shy;sa&shy;tion turned to pol&shy;it&shy;ics.

{{tab}}The play drama&shy;tizes the true story of the in&shy;fam&shy;ous {{w|Salem witch trials|Salem_witch_trials}} of 1692. It is a com&shy;plex story that begins with a seem&shy;ingly in&shy;no&shy;cent scene of Puritan chil&shy;dren dan&shy;cing in the forest. Mis&shy;con&shy;strued as Devil-<wbr>in&shy;spired witch&shy;craft, the town erupts into con&shy;tro&shy;versy, fur&shy;ther com&shy;pli&shy;ca&shy;ted by per&shy;sonal af&shy;fec&shy;tions and greed. The drama un&shy;folds as fear&shy;ful ac&shy;cusa&shy;tions and con&shy;fes&shy;sions blur truths and set the stage for tra&shy;gedy.

{{tab}}Arthur Miller wrote ''The Cru&shy;cible'' in the fifties as a meta&shy;phor for the on&shy;go&shy;ing {{w|Red Scare|McCarthyism}}, a time when many were wan&shy;tonly ac&shy;cused of as&shy;so&shy;ci&shy;a&shy;tion with or sym&shy;pathy for com&shy;mun&shy;ism. Burt Weston, one of the actors in the Shore&shy;line pro&shy;duc&shy;tion, noted, {{qq|It{{s}} a warn&shy;ing against in&shy;toler&shy;ance, a warn&shy;ing against mob men&shy;tal&shy;it&shy;ies.}}

{{tab}}The ori&shy;ginal 1953 pro&shy;duc&shy;tion won Miller a {{w|Tony Award|Tony_Award}} for {{qq|{{w|Best Play|Tony_Award_for_Best_Play}}}}{{dash}}as well as a 1957 in&shy;vit&shy;a&shy;tion to test&shy;ify before {{w|House Com&shy;mit&shy;tee on Un-<wbr>Amer&shy;ican Activ&shy;it&shy;ies|House_Un-American_Activities_Committee}}.

{{tab}}Chris Fisher, direc&shy;tor of Shore&shy;line{{s}} pro&shy;duc&shy;tion, feels that the play is as rel&shy;ev&shy;ant to&shy;day as it was then be&shy;cause she sees par&shy;al&shy;lels in to&shy;day{{s}} socio-<wbr>polit&shy;ical clim&shy;ate, ref&shy;er&shy;en&shy;cing the de&shy;ten&shy;tion of those ac&shy;cused of as&shy;so&shy;ci&shy;at&shy;ing with ter&shy;ror&shy;ists and the {{qq|ag&shy;gres&shy;sive in&shy;ter&shy;ro&shy;ga&shy;tion}} meth&shy;ods used on them.

{{tab}}{{qq|It seems to me we are again ac&shy;cus&shy;ing and blam&shy;ing people for things,}} said Sophia Smith, who will play the role of Sarah Good. {{qq|Be&shy;cause of the eth&shy;ni&shy;city of some&shy;one, we tend to judge them.}}

{{tab}}Ms. Fisher is also quick to point out that the drama in ''The Cru&shy;cible'' comes from its very human and per&shy;sonal sto&shy;ry, find&shy;ing the {{qq|in&shy;ter&shy;sec&shy;tion be&shy;tween the per&shy;sonal and pol&shy;it&shy;ical.}} With ele&shy;ments of love, loy&shy;alty, and tra&shy;gedy, she feels that there is plenty that will ap&shy;peal even to the most apol&shy;it&shy;ical among us.

{{tab}}In ad&shy;di&shy;tion to di&shy;rect&shy;ing ''The Cru&shy;cible,'' Fisher is a pro&shy;fes&shy;sor of drama, film, and video on campus. She re&shy;ceived her {{w|MFA|Master_of_Fine_Arts}} from {{w|Rut&shy;gers Uni&shy;vers&shy;ity|Rutgers_University}} and has worked on many pro&shy;jects in the&shy;ater, film, and tele&shy;vi&shy;sion. Melissa Leland is the stage man&shy;ager, and the cast in&shy;cludes Josh Truax as John Proc&shy;tor, Brit&shy;tany Fredette as Abi&shy;gail Wil&shy;liams, Cody Stitch as Judge Dan&shy;forth, Lori Pugh as Eli&shy;za&shy;beth Proc&shy;tor, Burt Weston as Mr. Tho&shy;mas Put&shy;nam, Susan Lovgren-<wbr>Wade as Ann Put&shy;nam, Eric For&shy;sythe as Giles Corey, Nicko&shy;las Falk as Rev. Parris, and Nick Hagen as Rev. Hale.

{{tab}}Nick Hagen is no stran&shy;ger to the sub&shy;ject matter of ''The Cru&shy;cible.'' Last year, he wrote a one-<wbr>act satire on McCarthy&shy;ism called ''Joe and Jesus'' that was per&shy;formed on campus. In it, anti-<wbr>com&shy;mun&shy;ist Sen. {{w|Joe McCar&shy;thy|Joseph_McCarthy}} in&shy;ter&shy;ro&shy;gates Jesus Christ for sub&shy;ver&shy;sion and un-<wbr>Amer&shy;ican beha&shy;vior.

{{tab}}Asked whether ''The Cru&shy;cible'' will ruffle any fea&shy;thers, many of the ac&shy;tors re&shy;sponded, {{qq|I hope so,}} with Nicko&shy;las Falk adding, {{qq|That{{s}} the point of the&shy;ater.}}
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