MU actors resurrect Arthur Miller classic

By Kristin Torres

Published Nov. 2, 2007

MU's Department of Theatre brings Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" to audiences this month, telling the tale of truth, trial, love, loyalty and a lot of eerie prayer chanting.

Directed by professor emeritus Weldon Durham, a cast of 21 will take the stage starting Nov. 10 for six performances of the highly acclaimed and candid play.

Set in a Puritan-run Salem, Mass., in the late 1600s, much of the play's content gets its storyline from the frantic and frenzied hysteria surrounding the infamously villainous Salem witch trials. Although the portrayed panic over witchcraft, devil sightings and conjured spirits might seem far-fetched now, the events are rooted in history but are subject to some added embellishment.

The formerly quiet New England town finds itself in chaos as stunning accusations and wicked witches allegedly fly. When the daughter of a paranoid preacher falls into a coma-like state marked by spontaneous outbursts after being caught dancing and chanting mysteriously in the forest with other girls and a slave from the Barbados, rumors of witchcraft run abound in the sternly religious community.

"Most of it's based on fact, except for the romance," MU senior Jason Wayne Christian said.

Christian said the play's romance is entirely invented. Although the script calls for an affair between characters John Proctor and his former maid Abigail Williams as a subplot that motivates vengeance and retaliation, the real Williams was 12 years old to Proctor's 60 during the witch hunts.

But unfortunately for Christian's character, Giles Corey, there's no such artistic license.

Corey ultimately suffers a terrible demise after refusing to enter a plea when charged with witchcraft.

"He gets crushed to death by stones," Christian said.

The play benefits from Durham's experienced eyes and ears, which come from years as a former theatre professor and a professional

actor.

When his actors aren't loud enough, he demands more inflection and power.

"Louder," Durham said as he directed his performers. "Like you're calling 'M-I-Z, Z-O-U' all across the stadium."

And when the script calls for eerie prayer chants to come from backstage, Durham said he wants to hear more and wants to hear it louder.

Durham has an eye for details, too. He instructed junior Cescily Turner to not wear her prescription glasses for the production in order to keep things realistic.

"Apparently, people in the Puritan days didn't wear glasses unless they were rich and famous," Turner said.

The actors involved are an extraordinarily diverse group, although they have a chemistry that explodes both on stage and off.

As Christian talks about devious Facebook.com pranks involving Chuck Norris profile pictures, fellow junior actor Matthew Leonard takes a cue and tells a favorite Chuck Norris joke.

Just minutes later, Leonard takes to the rehearsal stage. It's notable how easily he can switch from joker to his devastated character, John Proctor, as he writhes and vents in frustration on stage.

He wrings his hands, tugs at his shirt and pulls at his hair in

desperation.

And when the scene is over, he and his fellow actors snap right back into their real personalities, Chuck Norris jokes and all. The actors come from various academic disciplines and interests as well.

"I like to think of myself as an engineering guy that likes to do theatre in passing," senior Emerson Rapp said.

Although this is Rapp's first full production, he said he has previously written plays and has participated in playwright's

workshops.

Freshman Elizabeth McIntyre, who plays Mercy Lewis, was also involved in theatre during high school and decided to throw her hat in the ring for a shot in the play.

She said she would encourage interested students to do the same.

"I went online and found the date and showed up at the audition," she said. "If people want to do it, they should show up for the audition. And if you don't get a part, you're in the same spot you would be if you hadn't shown up at all. So it's worth a try."

Durham said the play's name recognition makes it a good addition to the theatre's season. The production offers challenging roles to both student actors and for those who work behind the scenes to make it all come together, especially when it comes to lighting, sound and use of props.

The show presents some strong themes and events that show audiences death, frustration, paranoia and the effects of fear.

"It's what we call a tragedy," McIntyre said.

But Durham isn't as quick to pinpoint the production's theatrical category.

By minimizing the play's melodrama, lightening up some of the darker moments and experimenting with the high points and flaws of both good and bad characters,

Durham said the production might seem too ordinary to truly be deemed a tragedy.

"That's OK with me if at the same time viewers might get the idea that tragedy is rooted in the banal, the ordinary, the routine, in the most common flaws of people and in their most usual ways of trying to get ahead in the world," Durham said.

In essence, crazed situations such as the witch hunts are rooted in routine and are aspects that unite everyone.

"Everyone who doesn't come out and see it is an uncultured, archaic curmudgeon," Rapp said.