LEXINGTON, Ky.—Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” a gripping drama widely recognized as one of the most important dramatic works of the 20th century, opens Thursday, Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m. in Transylvania University’s Lucille C. Little Theater.
“‘The Crucible’ serves to remind us not only of the ever-present danger of Constitutional compromises, of political power used to abuse another and of the all-too-easy threat of ambiguously-based charges, but also of the value and place of art in our lives,” said director and drama professor Tim Soulis.
Miller wrote “The Crucible” in 1952, as a metaphoric response to the hysteria surrounding the fear of Soviet-style Communism in America and the resulting investigation and persecution of anyone in government organizations thought to be affiliated with the Communist Party. He saw the situation as one parallel to the Salem Witch Trials two and a half centuries earlier.
In the 1692 Puritan world of Salem, Massachusetts, accusations of witchcraft flew among the disgruntled, fearful members of the community. A trial was convened to uncover and destroy the perceived power of Satan in Salem, and several Salem citizens were hanged for witchcraft. But in truth, economic expediency and personal vengeance motivated many of the accusations and the undesirables in the society—the homeless, the rebellious, the mentally challenged—could easily be eradicated with a charge of witchcraft. The mad dash to find demonic dangers in Salem and the accusatory climate of the trial led to the assessment in numerous private letters of the period, that “no one is safe.”
The classic drama runs Oct. 30-31 and Nov. 6-8 at 7:30 p.m., and Nov. 1 and 2 at 2 p.m. in the Lucille C. Little Theater. Tickets are $10 and may be reserved by calling the box office at (859) 281-3621. For more information, contact the public relations office at (859) 233-8120 or Tim Soulis at (859) 233-8163 or tsoulis@transy.edu.