The Crucible

The first effort of the Divinity Players was a production of Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, concerning the Salem, Massachusetts witch trials in 1692. It was meant as a parable of the McCarthy hearings in the early 1950s. The production was on 30-31 January and 1-2 February 1997.

Produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc.


Cast (in order of appearance)

(Pictures are about 25 kbytes in size.)

The Reverend Samuel Parris: Ted von Dameck Download picture
Tituba: Supinder Chewl Download picture
Abigail Williams: Heather Marie Massie Download picture
Susanna Walcott: Katie Sina Download picture
Ann Putnam: Jenny Shuster Download picture
Thomas Putnam: John Tamminen Download picture
Mercy Lewis: Leigh Wynne Download picture
Mary Warren: Jennifer Eldridge Download picture
Betty Parris: Amanda Simpson Download picture
John Proctor: Geoff Knobl Download picture
Giles Corey: L. David Roper Download picture
Rebecca Nurse: Jeanne Howard Roper Download picture
The Reverend John Hale: Scott Hungate Download picture
Elizabeth Proctor: Jane Browning Download picture
Ezekiel Cheever: Andy Davis Download picture
Marshal George Herrick: William C. Markham Download picture
Judge John Hathorne: Mike Ogliaruso Download picture
Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth: Bill Newton Download picture
Sarah Good: Babs Ogliaruso Download picture

Salem Village, spring, 1692

Act I An upper room in Parris' house
Act II The home of John and Elizabeth Proctor, eight days later
Act III The Vestry room of the Meeting House, three weeks later
Act IV A prison cell, three months later

Technical Artists

Director: Clare Fischer-Davies Download picture
Stage Manager/Assistant Director: Jack Wilcox Download picture
Scenographer: Laurel Dahill
Assistant Scenographer: Becky Schlabach Download picture
Lights: Russel Shock, Becky Schlabach, Jack Wilcox
Costumes: Glenda von Dameck Download picture
Props: Connie Wones
Carpenters: Jim Johnson, Mike Ogliaruso, Bill Spicer
Drummer: William C. Markham Download picture

Small Pictures of Personnel | Cast Picture (46 kbytes) | Download Cast Picture (46 kbytes)


Director's Note

The dictionary defines a crucible as "a basin in which elements are subjected to high heat for the purpose of examination." Its derivative meaning is "a severe, intense test." In this production, the audience will be the walls of that basin, both forming the sides of the crucible and examining the elements gathered in the center.

From its opening night in 1953, 'The Crucible" has been dismissed by its critics as melodrama, and its seventeenth century setting just a screen on which Mr. Miller could project his concerns about the McCarthy hearings. In the rehearsal process, the actors and I became part of the crucible ourselves, and discovered something much richer and more complex than melodrama. We found textured characters with whom we could identify, whose actions and reactions paralleled our own. Governor Danforth is not the personification of evil; he brings what he truly believes to be justice to this terrible crisis. John Proctor is no romantic hero; he is an ordinary man who finally finds his own moral center.

The Salem witch trials took place in a society even more contentious and conflicted than our own. Their theology cast everything in the light of the cosmic battle between God and Satan and made even the most ordinary encounters fraught with ultimate significance. That intense cosmology and the intimacy of their village life make heat enough to melt down and refine these very human men and women

What is 'The Crucible' about? It is surely about mob hysteria and the terrible cost of standing firm against madness. It is about sin, repentance and forgiveness. It is about John and Elizabeth Proctor's tragic marriage, the destruction of John Hale's faith and the awful power of a theocracy. All of this will burn before you tonight.

It has been a great privilege to work with this many thoughtful, intelligent and committed actors and technical artists. I give them heartfelt thanks for bringing this great play to life. We offer it to you now-all of the elements of character, action, speech and stagecraft for your examination and conclusions-as we place them here before you in the crucible.

The Reverend Claire Fischer-Davies


Background for The Crucible

Arthur Miller

Other Productions of The Crucible

Puritanism

Salem, Massachusetts and Its "Witches"

Ergotism's Role in the Salem Witch Trials


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Web page creator: L. David Roper (e-mail)