By: Ryan Duey
The Clay Center Community High School’s Tiger Speech and Drama class will present Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” on Saturday, March 1st, and Sunday, March 2nd in the Martyn-Snodgrass Auditorium. This historically relevant show hit Broadway in 1953, telling a dramatized story of the Salem Witch Trials that took place in the late 1600s.
Megan Blackburn, Tiger Speech and Drama Teacher, said this historically important show is based on a defining moment in American History.
“Arthur Miller wrote it during the 1950s during the McCarthyism Red Scare that was going, and he did that for the purpose of bringing to light what was going on in our country and drawing parallels.”
“Getting to talk about those historical elements has been really important. We’ve been able to draw a lot of parallels to our lives now and that’s been kind of an important part of the conversation in prepping for this show.”
Blackburn said many people most likely read this play in high school and hopes attendees will come in with an understanding of this dark play.
Blackburn said this is an incredibly hard show to replicate due to Miller’s heavy text, and very complex themes and characters. She said this play is not a simple undertaking for the students, but they were ready and willing to do it.
Student Grayson Brandt, who will be playing Reverend John Hale, said it has taken a lot of confidence and prepping for this show.
“It took a lot of confidence knowing that you’ll be able to do all these things. Also prepping for your roles and a lot of characterization is important because each character in this show has vastly different motivations. Either the people were against the witches and accusing them, then some people were trying to be good.”
“There’s just so much characterization, and we put a lot of hard work into that.”
Student Inaya Liddle, who will play Elizabeth Proctor, said this show is more intense than other shows they have done.
“You have to learn how to be the character and it’s a lot more intense than other shows we’ve done before. There’s not that much movement on stage, and there’s not a lot happening with the costumes, so it’s really about the people themselves; like what they’re doing, why they’re doing it, and things like that.
“So, it’s really important that we learn how to be these people so that we properly portray their story.”
Liddle said a lot of research is needed for each character, as they were real people during these historic times.
Kyleigh Falkenbury, who has more than one part, which includes playing Ann Putnam, said while it is difficult to portray these characters, she feels it is special to get to portray them.
“It’s really difficult to develop your character and try to understand what they would be feeling. I feel like after you really look into it and research, it is really special to be able to do that.”
Tickets are currently on sale and can be purchased in advance at Mayo’s in downtown Clay Center for a discount. Tickets will also be available at the door, with proceeds going right back to the class for future productions.
This is a great opportunity to support the students who are working extremely hard to bring this complex and historical play to the community.
