Revere Players performed the tragedy, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, as the annual fall play, led by director Sarah Pine.
Mass hysteria ensued during the Salem Witch Trials. Women and men were accused of being witches, leading to the executions of many. This panic began when young women claimed they were possessed by witches. Now, this event warns of the misuse of the legal system.
The Crucible tells a fictional story of Salem in 1692 . The story revolves around a farmer, John Proctor, and his wife, Elizabeth, who became the center of the witch hunts. Abigail Williams, a young girl who had an affair with John Proctor, accuses many women, including Elizabeth Proctor, of being witches to cover up her affair, turning the town into chaos and frenzy.
Last year, during the production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Pine decided to change the time period to the 1970s creating a different atmosphere. This year, for the fall production, Pine kept the direction of the play similar to the original play due to licensing concerns.
“With The Crucible, when you apply for rights, you are instructed that you cannot alter or change much at all, so [the play] doesn’t have a different kind of setting,” Pine said.
In addition to licensing, Pine explained that changing the setting or time period for the performance would take away from the play’s message, since this play is very focused on issues within the specific time period it was written.
“Playing with setting or with time period would actually defeat the purpose of this script, because the whole point is that it’s the Salem Witch Trials, so setting it in a funky place would undercut the messages,” Pine said.
Junior Tessa Kraynak, who plays Mary Warren and is Revere Players’ social media manager, has performed with players since her freshman year. She explained that, though they did not change the plot, the performance had more dramatized elements than other versions.
“I think we are definitely leaning into the scarier aspects of the play. [Mrs. Pine] helped us add a lot of small details that bring out the atmosphere of the show,” Kraynak said.
Senior Gianna Kosir, the female lead of the play, explained that since The Crucible deals with complex issues that the student actors cannot relate to, this play was difficult to prepare for.
“When I take a role, I like to see how other people have played it before, so I watched other school productions but I didn’t like how any of the other plays [portrayed] Abigail,” Kosir said.
Noah Restivo, who plays John Proctor, shared the same sentiment. He explained that the character is dramatic, which is different from other characters he has played throughout his time in Revere Players.
“I think the most frustrating part is just trying to capture all of [the dramatic] moments so that I don’t do any of the characters a disservice in the play,” Restivo said.
Pine explained that the emotions that are present in the play caused her to do different acting exercises to get the young actors ready. Usually, when there are complex scenes to perform, young actors tend to channel only one emotion: anger.
“When a text is heavy, young actors especially want every choice to be angry. [I asked] what is a different emotion or what is a different way we could get that same energy across,” Pine said.
Pine then explained that she chose this play so the student actors could show their range. They have done a variety of shows portraying different emotions, but have not performed one quite like The Crucible.
“I wanted the kids to get an opportunity to do a very heavy drama . . . I also knew the kids that we had, so I knew that we had the caliber of actors that would be ready to pull off a script that is as heavy and as dense as The Crucible,” Pine said.
Kosir explained that this play was perfect for this year due to the large amount of talent the players have this year. The Crucible has a variety of different roles and includes a large cast. Though some parts have less speaking than others, Kosir says that all of the characters come together to explain the story.
“The small parts are just as important; it’s all one big story, but there [are] so many little stories that build throughout The Crucible, and it makes the ending so much more emotional and vulnerable,” Kosir said.
Pine agreed and said that the smaller parts add to the story, showing how the small town became tangled in the mess of the Salem Witch Trials.
“We’re focused on how it’s affecting John Proctor, but having these smaller roles who are popping in and out highlights that this is a community that is going through it,” Pine said.
Preparation for these parts is key, as the student actors have not been as vulnerable on stage in the past. Kraynak explained that she took many different steps in prepping for her role as Mary Warren.
“To create my version of Mary, I pieced together interpretations from other productions of The Crucible, the film adaptation, and my understanding of the script,” Kraynak said.
The Revere Players put on four showings of The Crucible from November 16-19 and they are preparing for the spring musical, Cinderella.
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