‘Crucible’ Actors Excited To Take On Play
July 26, 2017 at 7:25 p.m.
‘Crucible’ Actors Excited To Take On Play
By David [email protected]
Many characters in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” find themselves exactly in that position. In Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts’ production of the play, Allsun O’Malley and Blake Bojewski play two characters who become lost in the herd mentality. The play is at the Wagon Wheel through Aug. 5.
O’Malley plays Mary Warren, a servant of John Proctor and his wife, Elizabeth, who is bullied by the other girls in the play. Despite that, she’s very loyal to the girls, who say they’re friends with Mary, as well as John Proctor. “She’s caught between the two when she has to decide whether or not to turn on her friends or turn on John Proctor in the court,” O’Malley said.
Bojewski plays the Rev. John Hale, an expert in witchcraft and demonology. “He is an outsider to the Salem village where the whole story takes place, but he comes in and kind of investigates if there’s witchcraft being done in Salem,” an allusion to the Salem witch trials in the Massachusetts Bay Colony back in 1692.
Hale’s investigation perpetuates a feeling in the village that witchcraft is afoot.
“It kind of, from his raindrop, steamrolls into this huge thing because everyone grabs onto that because everyone was looking for that thing to jump onto. Throughout the process of the play he kind of realizes what he’s done and just how big and uncontrollable this all gets,” Bojewski said.
Going into the production, O’Malley said she was excited to be part of “The Crucible.”
“We just came from doing four musicals that are very happy … and we kind of have to drop into ourselves a little bit, I think, at least personally I did, and I have to check in with myself before starting this rehearsal process because it’s very emotionally taxing,” O’Malley said.
Bojewski said it was exciting for him, too. “I was floored to be able to be in this production because it’s often considered one of the best plays of all time, and it’s just amazing. I read it in high school and watched the movie as well, as I think a lot of us did. Now to finally actually step into these characters that are so well-written and so in depth, it’s wonderful. It’s wonderful to have that experience,” he said.
While the 1953 play is a dramatic and partially fictional story of the witch trials, Miller penned it as an allegory for McCarthyism, a time when the United States government sought out and defamed people for being communists or suspected of being communists. The government attempted to force those branded as communists to give the names of others who might be communists – in effect, a witch hunt.
“What is interesting about this play is that it’s not about the witches, it’s not about witchcraft, it’s more about the refusal of the judges to accept the fact that these women and men weren’t witches and wizards, and I think that relates to McCarthyism,” O’Malley said.
Bojewski added, “While there is definitely a perceptual notion that this play was written as an allegory to Arthur Miller’s experiences in the Red Scare and everything, knowing that going into the play it’s been really interesting seeing that, even though that was the base subject matter or connection to this piece, throughout the years since (the play’s) been written it’s stood the test of time. It’s always been very prudent to what’s going on in present-day society.”
He said there’s many things that people align themselves to religiously or politically on any front.
“I think just the notion of somebody being sensational about a certain aspect has always been something that’s happening in society. You can apply it to very much anytime, anywhere.
“There will always be people who really will try to take it to the furthest extent of sensationalism and people piggyback on that in all these different movements. But you can connect it today to the political climate, especially how divided things are in America today. There’s many, many different ways in which this play can speak to people,” he said.
In the 17th century, O’Malley said there was no separation of church and state, and she can’t imagine now that. The women also had different expectations on them in 1692, but O’Malley said there were still strong women, and that’s reflected in “The Crucible.”
Elizabeth Proctor is accused in the play of witchcraft. “She talks about how she can’t imagine the devil could possibly own a good woman’s soul, and I think there are some very strong female characters in the show. I think Mary Warren tries to be a strong woman. I think that she knows what it means to be, but I think her past kind of works against her and it’s very hard for her to be. But I think Elizabeth is the epitome of a strong woman, or as strong as she could be in that time,” O’Malley said.
“The Crucible” is co-directed by Wagon Wheel veterans Ben Dicke and Andy Robinson. In the last musical, “Young Frankenstein,” Dicke starred as Dr. Frankenstein and Robinson was The Monster.
“It’s absolutely a wonderful experience to witness them in a directoral position and then in a performance position, too,” Bojewski said. “They’re both iconic people. I love them.”
“And us as a cast, we have a lot of respect for them when they are our colleague and when they are our director, which is really cool,” O’Malley said. “I think they work really well with (Artistic Director) Scott (Michaels) and really well together. Even though it’s a sad play, it’s a blast in the rehearsal room and they take so much time with each of us individually, which is so wonderful and makes the rehearsal room very healthy and a fun place to be.”
To see the full video interview with O’Malley and Bojewski, visit the Times-Union website video section at www.timesuniononline.com.
For tickets, visit wagonwheelcenter.org.
Many characters in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” find themselves exactly in that position. In Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts’ production of the play, Allsun O’Malley and Blake Bojewski play two characters who become lost in the herd mentality. The play is at the Wagon Wheel through Aug. 5.
O’Malley plays Mary Warren, a servant of John Proctor and his wife, Elizabeth, who is bullied by the other girls in the play. Despite that, she’s very loyal to the girls, who say they’re friends with Mary, as well as John Proctor. “She’s caught between the two when she has to decide whether or not to turn on her friends or turn on John Proctor in the court,” O’Malley said.
Bojewski plays the Rev. John Hale, an expert in witchcraft and demonology. “He is an outsider to the Salem village where the whole story takes place, but he comes in and kind of investigates if there’s witchcraft being done in Salem,” an allusion to the Salem witch trials in the Massachusetts Bay Colony back in 1692.
Hale’s investigation perpetuates a feeling in the village that witchcraft is afoot.
“It kind of, from his raindrop, steamrolls into this huge thing because everyone grabs onto that because everyone was looking for that thing to jump onto. Throughout the process of the play he kind of realizes what he’s done and just how big and uncontrollable this all gets,” Bojewski said.
Going into the production, O’Malley said she was excited to be part of “The Crucible.”
“We just came from doing four musicals that are very happy … and we kind of have to drop into ourselves a little bit, I think, at least personally I did, and I have to check in with myself before starting this rehearsal process because it’s very emotionally taxing,” O’Malley said.
Bojewski said it was exciting for him, too. “I was floored to be able to be in this production because it’s often considered one of the best plays of all time, and it’s just amazing. I read it in high school and watched the movie as well, as I think a lot of us did. Now to finally actually step into these characters that are so well-written and so in depth, it’s wonderful. It’s wonderful to have that experience,” he said.
While the 1953 play is a dramatic and partially fictional story of the witch trials, Miller penned it as an allegory for McCarthyism, a time when the United States government sought out and defamed people for being communists or suspected of being communists. The government attempted to force those branded as communists to give the names of others who might be communists – in effect, a witch hunt.
“What is interesting about this play is that it’s not about the witches, it’s not about witchcraft, it’s more about the refusal of the judges to accept the fact that these women and men weren’t witches and wizards, and I think that relates to McCarthyism,” O’Malley said.
Bojewski added, “While there is definitely a perceptual notion that this play was written as an allegory to Arthur Miller’s experiences in the Red Scare and everything, knowing that going into the play it’s been really interesting seeing that, even though that was the base subject matter or connection to this piece, throughout the years since (the play’s) been written it’s stood the test of time. It’s always been very prudent to what’s going on in present-day society.”
He said there’s many things that people align themselves to religiously or politically on any front.
“I think just the notion of somebody being sensational about a certain aspect has always been something that’s happening in society. You can apply it to very much anytime, anywhere.
“There will always be people who really will try to take it to the furthest extent of sensationalism and people piggyback on that in all these different movements. But you can connect it today to the political climate, especially how divided things are in America today. There’s many, many different ways in which this play can speak to people,” he said.
In the 17th century, O’Malley said there was no separation of church and state, and she can’t imagine now that. The women also had different expectations on them in 1692, but O’Malley said there were still strong women, and that’s reflected in “The Crucible.”
Elizabeth Proctor is accused in the play of witchcraft. “She talks about how she can’t imagine the devil could possibly own a good woman’s soul, and I think there are some very strong female characters in the show. I think Mary Warren tries to be a strong woman. I think that she knows what it means to be, but I think her past kind of works against her and it’s very hard for her to be. But I think Elizabeth is the epitome of a strong woman, or as strong as she could be in that time,” O’Malley said.
“The Crucible” is co-directed by Wagon Wheel veterans Ben Dicke and Andy Robinson. In the last musical, “Young Frankenstein,” Dicke starred as Dr. Frankenstein and Robinson was The Monster.
“It’s absolutely a wonderful experience to witness them in a directoral position and then in a performance position, too,” Bojewski said. “They’re both iconic people. I love them.”
“And us as a cast, we have a lot of respect for them when they are our colleague and when they are our director, which is really cool,” O’Malley said. “I think they work really well with (Artistic Director) Scott (Michaels) and really well together. Even though it’s a sad play, it’s a blast in the rehearsal room and they take so much time with each of us individually, which is so wonderful and makes the rehearsal room very healthy and a fun place to be.”
To see the full video interview with O’Malley and Bojewski, visit the Times-Union website video section at www.timesuniononline.com.
For tickets, visit wagonwheelcenter.org.
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