The Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center Announces Its Production of Arthur Miller’s “Great American Masterpiece” The Crucible

Indiana University Department of Theatre and Drama is proud to present one of America’s greatest plays – a powerful example of how the theatre reflects and reacts to the society around it. Winner of the 1953 Tony Award for Best Play, The Crucible opens in the Ruth N. Halls Theatre Friday, November 10, at 7:30 and continues November 11 and 13-18. With funding from IU’s Moveable Feast of the Arts (supported by the Lilly Foundation), the Department of Theatre and Drama will present a special high school matinee of The Crucible Thursday, November 16, at 10:00 a.m. Schools from Munster to Brown County have taken advantage of the opportunity and filled the house. Pulitzer Prize winner Arthur Miller creates a powerful and timeless depiction of how intolerance and mass hysteria can intersect and tear a community apart.

The talented cast of The Crucible includes many graduate and undergraduate Theatre and Drama majors working in conjunction with Dan Kremer, a member of Actors' Equity Association who has worked with The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, American Conservatory Theatre and Yale Repertory Theatre. Kremer will play Governor Danforth. The graduate students include John R. Armstrong (Happy Birthday Wanda June, Falsettos, Our Country’s Good) in his M.F.A. thesis performance as John Proctor, Tom Conner (“MASTER HAROLD”…and the boys, Macbeth, She Stoops to Conquer) and Lilia Vassileva, who is making her debut performance at the Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center.  Joining these graduate students are undergraduates Nick Arapoglou (Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr [abridged]) as Reverend Hale, Jessica Rothert (Honour and Arcadia) as Abigail, and Justine Salata (She Stoops to Conquer)as Mary Warren. Filling out the cast are Michael Borgmann, Lindsey Charles, Jacob Dahm, Annie Kerkian, Sarah Kiperman, Matt Leach, Kate Lickliter, Jamaal McCray, Sarah Schlegel, Graham Sheldon, April Smallwood, Lauren Steffen and Taylor St. John. These talented theatre students have performed in theatres across the country and they bring a wealth of knowledge and talent to the stage.

See what critics across the country have said about Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible

“The Great American Masterpiece.”
- San Francisco Chronicle

"Arthur Miller has created a timeless classic that still stands as one of the most relevant pieces in American Theatre."
 - Boston Globe

"One of Miller’s finest works."
- New York Times 

The Crucible is directed by Fontaine Syer, faculty member in Acting and Directing. Last season Fontaine directed She Stoops to Conquer at the Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center. Fontaine has directed extensively throughout the country. She was the Artistic Director for the Delaware Theatre Company and Associate Artistic Director for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Syer has worked as a free-lancer in theatres across the country, including the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Missouri Repertory Theatre, Pennsylvania Centre Stage, Meadowbrook Theatre in Michigan, and the Utah Shakespearean Festival.  Fontaine believes that The Crucible is “emotionally honest….This honesty serves as a touchstone for the mass hysteria which shows up with a kind of hideous regularity in the human experience.”

The creative team for The Crucible consists of scenic designer I. Christopher Berg (Brighton Beach Memoirs, Arms and the Man), M.F.A. costume designer Katherine Garlick (A Chorus Line) who is designing The Crucible for her thesis project, lighting designer Jesse Portillo (Wit, Our Country’s Good), and the sound design of our newest faculty member Andrew Hopson (Woman in Black, The Birthday Party).

The Crucible opens Friday, November 10, and runs November 11, 13-18. Performances will take place in the Ruth N. Halls Theatre. All performances begin at 7:30 PM. Ticket prices are $16.00 for adults and $13.00 for students, seniors, and anyone 30 and younger (discounts Monday-Thursday only).  STUDENT RUSH tickets are available the day of each performance; students with a valid IU I.D. may purchase any available tickets for $10 cash. Group prices are available. For detailed ticket information, call 812-855-1103 and ask for info about Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center tickets.  To purchase tickets by phone, call Ticketmaster at 333-9955 (for the Bloomington, Indiana area) or visit www.ticketmaster.com.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS PRODUCTION:

• The Crucible homepage
• The People of the Production
• John R. Armstrong
• Costume Designer Katherine Garlick
• Scenic Designs
• An Interview with Dan Kremer
• Arthur Miller, Joseph McCarthy, and The Crucible, an essay by Dramaturg Tom Shafer
• Documents on Poetry and Metaphor, prepared by Tom Shafer and Deanna Nichol
• An Artist of a Special Class, a pre-show lecture by Nick Cullather
• Costume Designs

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