Derian Silva
Staff Writer
Opening night of “The Crucible” at Parkland Theater has sold out, kicking off the season for theater productions at Parkland.
“The Crucible,” a play by Arthur Miller, has been adapted for the Parkland Theater and is being directed by Mathew Green.
It portrays the people of Salem, Mass., as they attempt to discover witches hiding amongst them. The plot progresses as the accusatory actions of characters take to life and begin to show the more complex aspects of human nature, such as greed, selfishness, and mob mentality.
Some characters in the play use the witchcraft hysteria to advance themselves financially and their socioeconomic positions in Salem by accusing others of witchcraft to have their property seized and sold.
Shame also drives the plot as characters blame their actions on the witchcraft. This allows the characters to push away the feeling of responsibility for their actions, rather placing it on other members of their community. Feelings of anger and confusion follow as no one feels safe. Anyone can make the claim that another is practicing witchcraft and is believed, with dire consequences for the accused.
“The Crucible” was written in the 1950s by an American as an allegory to the red scare of the 1950s. During this time in American history, people were terrified of anything that resembled communism and would live their lives in a paranoid fashion.
Parallels can be drawn between the paranoia of the McCarthy investigations of the late 1940s and early ‘50s—in which Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee would investigate public officials and civil servants accused of sympathizing with communism—and the witch trials in Salem in the late 1600s.
During the McCarthy era, hundreds of Americans were imprisoned and thousands were fired from their jobs due to accusations of being communist or prior connections with communism.
Miller himself was subpeonaed by HUAC and convicted of contempt of Congress in 1956-57, a few years after the play was released, for refusing to name those at meetings he had been to in the past that the government was suspicious of. His charge was overturned in 1958 after it was determined Miller was lied to by a HUAC official.
Gay individuals were also targeted for investigation by government elements due to a heavy societal emphasis placed upon the traditional idea of a family and its perceived importance to the American way of life.
“[‘The Crucible’ is] about what can happen to a group of people if you let their fears win out over their reason and I think that’s a story worth hearing,” says Green.
While the concepts and themes of the play surround shame, guilt, and mob mentality, the actual directing of the play is carefully thought-out and methodical.
Green wants the audience to take the extra step in interpreting the story, but he also doesn’t want them to get too lost in attempting to understand the play. He directs his actors to draw on comparable emotions to a scene to make it good.
“For instance in this play, the betrayal that John Proctor has committed against his wife and the shame that he feels,” Green said. “It’s not necessary for the actor to have personally experienced that to convey it with some degree of accuracy or in a way that will come through for an audience.”
Green wants his actors to draw on other emotions that still allow them to show the audience what the character is going through.
“We’ve all done things we’re not proud of,” Green said. “Most of us have things we’d rather not everyone know. It’s finding that part of ourselves that’s similar in some way and then amplifying it to performance level.”
Though the events the play is based on happened centuries ago, Green has put everyone in modern clothing so that the audience can visually relate to the characters.
“That’s my way of putting the play in all time periods at the same time and showing that maybe we haven’t progressed all that much,” Green said.
Audience members can also expect a cast that has worked diligently at delivering an accurate and well thought out play.
The play will open Sept. 28 with performances on Sept. 28–30 at 7:30 p.m. The next weekend there will be performances at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 5–7. There will be matinees at 3 p.m. on Oct. 1 and Oct. 8. There will be a talk-back at the end of every show, which is an opportunity for audience members to ask questions.
For more information, email theatre@parkland.edu, call 217-351-2528, or visit the theatre’s website at theatre.parkland.edu.
