FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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October 2, 2007 Myra Saturen, 610-332-6547
The Crucible To Be Performed at NCC
The Crucible by Arthur Miller will be performed by the Northampton Community College’s Theatre Department in late October and early November.
First presented in 1952, The Crucible is based on the Salem Witch Trials of the 17th century. The plot unfolds when a group of young girls accuse some villagers of witchcraft, leading to deadly hysteria throughout the town.
“Although Arthur Miller’s play has often been seen as a thinly veiled parable about heroism in the face of the anticommunist witch hunts in 1950s America, it is also very much a play about the ways in which belief overwhelms observable reality,” says Norman Roberts, professor of communications and theatre, who is directing the production. “Character John Proctor, the central character, has martyrdom thrust upon him as he is caught between opposing beliefs: the frenzy of the young women who “see” witches everywhere and the Puritan hierarchy of seventeenth century Massachusetts, which is trying to establish a godly state in an unfriendly, chaotic world. In this play, what the young women and the judges believe about Proctor, his wife, and the other accused witches matters more than their evident innocence. What they believe to be true supersedes reality.”
Noting the play’s mythic-sounding dialogue, Roberts says that the play can be viewed as an instructional fairy tale. The title “The Crucible,” with its meaning of a test or a vessel of pressure, illustrates the play’s insight into the self-destructive behavior of people under great stress.
Roberts believes that the play’s themes are relevant to our own times, specifically to the United States’ recent history in Iraq, an invasion based on weapons of mass destruction that didn’t exist.
The cast includes:
From Allentown:
DeShawn McIntyre
From Bethlehem:
Leanna Talotta
Sarah-Jane Appleman
James J. Nester
Michael Montgomery
Shane Townsend
Tom Shaw
Ana McCaw
Orianna Nerino
From East Stroudsburg:
Danielle Baldassare
From Easton:
Marissa Smith
Patricia R. Jencks
Jacob Schwartz
Peter Sanchez
From Freemansburg:
Scott Peterson
From Mount Bethel:
Richard Nazzaro
From Nazareth:
Lyndsey Bourdeau
From New York City:
Precious Coleman
From Pocono Manor:
Andrew Khouri
From Schnecksville:
Katti Mayk
From Stroudsburg:
Abigail Parker
From Whitehall:
Alexis Jernegan
All performances will take place at Lipkin Theatre, Kopecek Hall, Main Campus, 3835 Green Pond Road, Bethlehem Township. Times: October 26, 8:00 p.m.; October 27, 7:00 p.m.; October 31, 11:00 a.m.; November 2, 7:00 p.m.; November 3, 7:00 p.m.
Admission is free, but a donation of canned goods for a local food pantry or a donation to the NCC Actors’ Scholarship Fund is requested. For more information and tickets call 610-861-5524 or e-mail ncc_theatre_tickets@northampton.edu
