The Crucible

Unlike various popular comedic works, like “Clybourne Park,” “House of Blue Leaves,” “Noises Off” and “Little Women”, put on by Samo’s theater program in the past, intense darkness and drama has landed on the campus with this year’s fall play, The Crucible.The Crucible is set in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in Salem, Massachusetts during 1692-1693, the time of the Salem Witch trials. One night, a group of young girls in the town goes dancing in the woods with a family slave. When they are caught by the local minister, Reverend Parris, one girl faints from fright and falls into a coma-like state. The town is caught in a whirlwind of rumors and accusations of witchcraft over this occurrence, which results in light being shed on multiple betrayals and even a secret affair. Many questions fly up in the air and cause the townspeople to point fingers in every direction in a frenzy of fear over the possibility of witchcraft in their town.The cast is excited for the upcoming show because they claim that it is different from what has been done in the past, and will be very impactful. The performers are glad they have been giving a challenge such as The Crucible, because they say that it has forced them to work very hard to understand how to attack their roles.“I think I’m most looking forward to the reaction we get from the audience and the school because this is a very provocative play. It’s a big drama, and it is different from what we normally do for the plays,” said Anna Pack (’17).Pack plays the role of Abigail, one of the girls found in the woods, who drives the story.“It’s a really beautiful story, and it tells a really good message that’s really evident in today’s society, even though it was written in the early 1900s, and we have an incredible cast,” Alyssa Jaffe (’17) said.Because the story is set back in the 1600s, the play was written in a style of Old English, which can be hard to manage for millennials. Not to mention, the cast members had to work very hard to get into the skin of their characters and really become them.“We’ve been doing a lot of character workshops,” Pack said. “We basically came up with a backstory for the time when they were younger, before their age in the show. What we do is we kind of improv with that and then improv between the characters to build our relationship with each character.”Grayson Shapiro (’17) has been involved in Samo theater, but has spent almost every other show off stage, behind the scenes, working in the tech department. He has not been on stage since fifth grade, but he decided to be a part of the cast this year and is playing the role of Giles Corey.“I’ve been memorizing lines. When I first saw my role that I saw had a sizeable amount of lines, I was like ‘Oh, god, I haven’t done this in so long, I really hope it’s not that hard to memorize!’ But I got it down. I know all of my lines. I’ve been practicing a lot at home,” Shapiro said.Not only has the main cast been working vigorously preparing for the show, but the ensemble too has been working to make sure they have all of their movements and blocking down. The ensemble in the crucible is the group of performers who don’t have specific lines but have roles as townspeople and characters.“This is one of the best ensemble groups I’ve ever seen in my life, and I think at the end, during the shows, it will really play off,” Jake Netter (’18) said. Netter plays the role of John Proctor, who is married to Elizabeth Proctor. He too becomes very caught up in the storm that moves into this little town in the show.The play, set in a dark time with a dark and perhaps depressing story, is not meant to be a light and joyous work. In fact, cast members warn the audience and viewers to be ready.“People need to be aware that it is not at all a lighthearted show, it’s really, really intense. There are scenes where everyone’s screaming at each other at the top of their lungs, where there’s so much going on,” Susi Basse (’17) said. “There are very adult themes that people don’t really expect from a high school play, but they’re here, and I think they are done really well.”Samo Theater has an interim director while Mrs.Barazza, the main director, is on leave. Gina Oster, the interim director, has taken directing by charge. She has put in a lot of work into the Crucible and says that her favorite part of The Crucible has been, “Working with the fabulous students, parents and teachers that have worked so hard already and will continue to work hard until the end of the run.”“I was surprised how much the actors jumped right in and embraced all the challenging aspects of doing this show. They are a very professional group and very passionate. I am a lucky director,” Oster said.Many of the cast members and their director mentioned how they believe the show is very relevant to today and our pressing issues this fall, and all of them hope that these messages will be imparted to the audience.“I believe this is a much more accurate and realistic portrayal of the community I live in and that our children live in,” Oster said. “In The Crucible not only is there fear and intolerance of anything “different” but there is also a strong argument about what is “right” and what is “wrong,” a need to create “us” vs “them,” and in doing so the community ends up in a shambles. Perhaps if there had been less fear, less blame and a little more willingness to listen, a different outcome could have occurred. I hope this message of the limitations of intolerance will resonate with the audience.”Samo waits in excited anticipation to see what the cast of The Crucible has in store. Opening night is October 28th at 7:00 p.m., in the Humanities Center.