The chairs are set up around the stage, nervous and excited chatter come from the audience, all waiting in excitment. As the lights turn off and the red lights appear behind the beams, the audience is overtaken with suspense. All eyes appear on senior Isha Kurlekar as she walks onto stage with a sinister look, feeding into the suspense that is forming alongside the slow, creaky music. The dark, silent stage sets an eerie mood for the audience.
The Theater Major Studies class (TMS) presented “The Crucible.” last weekend. All of the actors portrayed their characters with excellence. Senior Kyle Skinner, who played John Proctor, embodied the anger of his character. Skinner is seen ripping up the document to keep Proctor’s name. Jacob Gasca, who played Reverend Parris, encapsulates his character’s passion to find the reason for his niece’s illness. Gasca is seen continuously reading and preaching the bible. Everyone was devoted and passionate to the script and pursuing an accurate demonstration of the original play.
The audience became bystanders to the issues rising up during the Salem Witch Trials. “The Crucible” focuses on the accusations of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Many women were hanged over these accusations with no evidence given. Everyone in the audience received a different perspective of the whole play. The seats were placed on stage with the actors. Getting to see the emotion and devotion up close truly brings out another type of connection because the individual will feel involved in what’s happening, almost as if they are performing with them.
Junior Gina Pham, who played Betty Parris, portrayed her character’s pain so well; she poured her heart into Betty’s emotion. She screamed so emotionally that it caused a panic all across the audience. It sounded full of the pain and fear her character was feeling and demonstrated an accurate representation of what Arthur Miller tried to get across. Pham was powerful to say the least.
Kurlekar, who played Abigail Williams, the main character, illustrated her character’s vengeful and selfishness in an excellent way. The way she presented herself to the audience and her facial expressions accurately portrayed who Abigail really was- how cruel and evil she really was.
Senior Leighanna Slage, the lighting designer, perfected her job. Everytime the lights switched to a blackout, there was a rise of suspense in the whole storyline. Lighting is important in plays like these because it adds so much more meaning to the story and it did. During the court scene where they were in trial determining if the girls were lying and accusing out of anger, when the lights dimmed to black and there were peaks of red behind the beam, it became clear that Abigail was under her sinister ways. Not only did the lighting make a difference but even the music that played during different scenes set up the tone and mood of the scene. It created a masked emotion in the audience and in the show to shine light on the importance of the characters and the scene.
The determination and effort of all these actors is extremely inspiring because they were so motivated to give off the best performance of “The Crucible.” It truly shows how important acting is to them and it makes it an even more bittersweet moment because their passion for the part is beautiful and inspiring.
Overall, the play was incredible to say the least. Being seated on stage with the actors invited the audience into the play and truly let them have an emotional connection to it. It is seen as a new point of view to the whole audience. All of the actors played their role so accurately and all the emotion shown in different ways is what really put everything together. There were so many factors that built into the plot and the audience’s emotions. “The Crucible” presented by the TMS students showed the dedication and power the Salem Witch Trials had, enhancing the idea of lying without consequences.
