Witch hunts run amok in 'Crucible'

During the 1950s, the Red Scare had returned, with Americans fearing communist subversion.

In response, Wisconsin Sen. Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Affairs Committee began investigating alleged members of the communist party.

Among those questioned was playwright Arthur Miller. The inquiry into Miller's alleged Communist ties led him to write "The Crucible."

The Acting Company will perform Miller's play beginning Friday.

Instead of making "The Crucible" a fictional version of McCarthy and HUAC's methods, Miller made the play about the Salem witch trials that occurred in 1692 and 1693 in Salem, Mass.

"(Miller) wasn't interested in the Salem witch trials; he was more interested in sharing his views on the McCarthy trials," said "Crucible" director Ellie Palmer. "A witch hunt is a witch hunt and, during the 1950s, it was the communists who were being hunted."

"The Crucible" opens with the Rev. Parris (Richard Rawlinson) praying for his unconscious daughter, Betty (Molly Grover). Through his niece, Abigail (Margaret Grover), he discovers Betty and Abigail have been engaging in occult activities in the forest.

A crowd begins to gather, the suspicion of witchcraft looming. Parris summons the Rev. John Hale (Harold Whitson), an expert in the occult. Hale interrogates black slave Tituba (Yolanda Bonkowski), who was with the girls in the forest. Tituba accuses various Salem townspeople of witchcraft. Abigail joins her, and Betty wakes up, only to join them in accusing others.

These accusations then begin a series of witch trials in Salem, with local farmer John Proctor (David Gagnon) trying to expose the girls as frauds.

"I think (Arthur Miller) used this play to show that people in positions of power use public enemy No. 1, or the fear of public enemy No. 1, to advance their own agenda," Palmer said. "That's the case with several of the characters in the play."

Though the play is based in the 1690s and was written about McCarthyism, "it's pertinent, even today," Palmer said. "We still have these issues, such as fear mongering, even today."