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‘The Crucible’: First of six performances begins Friday at Sikeston Little Theatre
SIKESTON — Local actors will be performing an American classic as the Sikeston Little Theatre will present “The Crucible.”
There will be six performances of the play, beginning Feb. 11-12 at 7 p.m.; Feb. 13 at 2 p.m.; Feb. 18-19 at 7 p.m. and Feb. 20 at 2 p.m.
“The Crucible” is a play written by American playwright Arthur Miller, who was wrongly accused of communism and un-American activities during McCarthyism in the 1950s. Miller wrote the play as an allegory, revealing the political and moral parallels between the Salem witch trials and the McCarthy trials of his own time.
“The Crucible” takes place in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692 during the Salem Witch trials.
“The play is a semi-fictionalized telling of the trials and tells the story of a group of Salem girls who falsely accuse other villagers of practicing witchcraft,” said Cody Smither, who directs the play. “The accusations and ensuing trials push the village into a mass hysteria and mob mentality, resulting in 200 arrests and 19 executions. This group of girls is led by Abigail Williams, who has an affair with a farmer, John Proctor, and is now motivated to have his wife, Elizabeth, executed for witchcraft so she may take Elizabeth’s place as John’s wife.”
Smither said since the play is based on actual events in the country’s history, a lot of preparation went into researching the time period. The group of pilgrims were called “Puritans” and the director said they learned as much about the lifestyle as they could to portray them accurately on stage.
“A lot of preparation went into the costumes,” Smither said. “We had to purchase the men’s costume pieces and our costume director and seamstress, Malena Bonds, made all of the women’s costumes herself as well as make alterations to the men’s costumes.”
Even more preparation went into building the set.
“Our patrons are in for a treat when it comes to the set design and dynamic use of the stage,” Smither said. “We have brought elements that have never been seen before at Sikeston Little Theatre and I have Adam Knoeppel and his team of builders to thank for bringing my out-of-the-box ideas to life for this show.
“For the first time ever, our patrons will get to witness our actors perform on a turn-table set, similar to what they would see in Broadway productions like ‘Les Miserables’ or ‘Hamilton.’ We have a few other surprises for our audiences, but that is definitely the biggest one.”
Smither is no stranger to directing productions at the Sikeston Little Theatre, directing the last two dramas: “Nightfall with Edgar Allen Poe,” and “The Giver.”
“The cast has blown me away with how much talent, dedication, and stamina they have for this show,” Smither said. “It is a very difficult show to perform with all of the dialogue, heightened emotions and even content, but these men, women and children make it look easy.”
The cast is full of veteran actors along with some who haven’t acted in a drama in 20 years and others who have never been on the Sikeston Little Theatre stage before, while one has never acted before.
“Mike McKinney, a pastor from Charleston, came to the audition room and said he had never acted before and wanted to give it a shot,” Smither said. “He then gave Atticus Finches’ ending monologue from ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and immediately I knew I needed him as one of the judges in the show.”
McKinney plays Judge Hathorne, one of the local judges who is eager for the trials and executions to proceed as normal and without delay.
“Even though Mike is nothing like Judge Hathorne, he has a lot of fun bringing out Hathorne’s personality and it’s been a joy for the rest of the cast to build their characters’ relationships with Hathorne and for him to join our Sikeston Little Theatre family,” Smither said.
Other cast members are: Jeremiah Dunmyer ( John Proctor), Hilary Borton (Abigail Williams), Katie Roach (Elizabeth Proctor), Ben Johnson (Rev. Hale), Kenneth Benton (Judge Danforth), Dennis Bohannon (Rev. Parris), Isach Payne (Mary Warren), Jessica Ramsey (Ann Putnam), Shane Wicker (Thomas Putnam), Saundra Grant (Tituba), Smither (Giles Corey), Katy Moore (Martha Corey), Alice Jackson (Rebecca Nurse), Kyle Day (Willard), Marshall Self (Ezekiel Cheever), Jessica Mercer (Sarah Good), Selah Torres (Susanna Walcott), Ashley Withrow (Mercy Lewis), Ruby Sullivan (Betty Parris), Emma Grace Michael (Elizabeth Hubbard) and Ender Mercer (Ruth Putnam).
“People should come see this show, not only because it is an incredible American classic that is performed all over the world, but because of the power and emotion this show contains and the amplification of those qualities when you remember that these events actually took place, and they are relative to even our present time,” Smither said. “The audience will laugh, cry, not know whether to sit back or on the edge of their seats. The dialogue is gripping, the characters bring you into 1692 Salem, the effects are shocking, and the set is one-of-a-kind. Audiences will not walk out the same as they walked in.”
Tickets are on sale at https://www.sikestonlittletheater.com and at the box office.