On Wednesday, November 13th, Franklin High School opened its 2019 Fall Play: The Crucible! It stars a diverse and wide variety of characters played by over 30 following talented students. 

In the first act of the story, we are introduced to the setting, characters, and plot. The story takes place in and around the town of Salem, Massachusetts in the spring of 1692. In the beginning of the play, we see girls dancing in the woods around a fire with Tituba, drinking what some may think is a witch’s brew, or possibly soup. Either way, it’s clear that something shady is going on. The visual effects during this time on stage really added to the mood conveyed by the story and setting. The girls are spotted by Reverend Parris, and his terrified daughter, Betty collapses from shock, it seems like. Betty accuses the ringleader of the girls, Elizabeth Proctor of being a witch, and the people of Salem insist she be brought to trial. It becomes a slippery slope for the town of Salem once more and more people find out about the “witchcraft.” Soon, it turns the townspeople against each other, showcasing the power of socially sanctioned violence. 

The theme of this story lines up with the topic of McCarthyism, a practice that involves the use of unfair allegations and investigations without proper evidence. Joseph McCarthy was a senator of Wisconsin who led a campaign against alleged communists in the government during 1950-54, around the period when The Crucible was written. From this comes the idea of the witch hunt, which is exactly what these characters are doing in this story. 

I think that the actors did an awesome job of bringing these characters to life. Each of them brought their own unique talents and styles to the stage to tell this tale, and they made it really easy to get connected to or relate to their characters. For me, this was fun to watch because I read The Crucible for AP Lit last year. Watching it be actually performed by my fellow students made the play more enjoyable for me than actually reading it as a book because I get to feel more connected to the characters and actually understand what’s happening over the course of the story. 

I would like to thank all who were involved with The Crucible for their very hard and dedicated work in bringing this tale to life within Franklin High School. It was a delight to watch and it was nice to see how much these students have grown and learned from previous years.