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22 February 2012
MBU Theatre’s production of the classic play took new angles into account – literally.
Violin and drum interweave to create the somber tones of 1692. Foreboding tree in the background, Tituba beats a rhythm as the young girls in nightgowns dance in the forest.
As this scene opened Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” Feb. 16 in Missouri Baptist University’s Pillsbury Chapel, the audience sat on the stage, enclosing the actors from three sides in a way known as a thrust stage.
During opening night, the nearly full house viewed the action in ways that an ordinary stage setup would not have allowed.
“Opening night went really well,” said Emily Dixon, who played Abigail Williams, the main antagonist of the play. “We didn’t know what to expect from the audience.”
At a close distance to the actors, the spectators attentively watched each scene unfold.
“It was really intense, the emotion the actors portrayed. I really felt like I was there,” said Lydia Bradshaw, junior.
Philip Parrish, cast as Reverend Hale, completely agreed with this opinion.
“We thought we had some good moments in rehearsal, but it exponentially skyrocketed with the audience there,” Parrish said.
Each act depicted Salem’s Puritan society in the midst of hysteria and executions, which Miller compared to the Communist Red Scare during his time.
“It shows how blind we were and that people should not repeat history,” Dixon said.
Throughout Miller’s portrayal of the Salem witch trials, Dixon fully captured the essence of her character. From this production, she said that she learned to “embrace your character.”
The show ran from Thursday, Feb. 16 thru Sunday, Feb. 18.
Elizabeth Busekrus is a senior majoring in English. Busekrus is a reporter for Timeline Online.
Email: ebusekrus@yahoo.com