FHC Theater has once again challenged itself to produce an impeccable show. This year’s fall play, The Crucible, is an important piece for the actors and their audience.
This year’s performance takes time and a deep understanding of your character to participate in. Senior Audrey VanSkiver becomes very connected to her character, Abigail Williams, and spends a lot of time studying and feeling how her character should really act.
“I find myself acting as her… and when you’re acting, when your character says something that they think is right, you also think it’s right,” Audrey said. “I feel like when you’re truly acting, you believe everything that your character believes…so I’ve kind of found myself trying to look at [the world] through her.”
Looking deeper into her character, Audrey feels surrounded by support from her castmates throughout her years of theater, even through rough performances and roles.
Sophomore Lily Meade also deals with the pressure of a heavy role, Mercy Lewis, and feels guided by her cast through the deep moments of acting and being her character. Although her character is supposed to be mean, Lily feels supported by her team and friends to feel less pressure from her character.
“Well, I listen to everything [Abigail Williams] says,” Lily said. “She’s like my leader. I’ve been super mean to [Mary Warren]…practicing my lines. I don’t think I’m that mean, so it’s been kind of different…[Mercy Lewis] is funny, and she’s mean, and she’s like a little sheep to Abigail Williams.”
In so many ways, the cast have become very close in the past month, rehearsing and spending endless time together. Junior Aiden Verwolf believes that the cast and crew are spending so much time together that they are forced to make a community.
“The cast [includes] very unique people, and we spent a lot of time together over the last month preparing for the play,” Aiden said. “Outside of rehearsals, the cast team bonds together to build more on what they already have.”
The Crucible is a well-known play and book that high schoolers at FHC read today. Because of the historical aspect of the play—The Crucible takes place during the era of the Salem Witch Trials—the scenes are very intense, and the acting is challenging.
“We’ve read The Crucible a lot in school—English 10 has for the past few years—so a lot of students should probably know it already and be familiar with it,” Aiden said. “It’s just such an interesting time period in American history that had a lot of drama, and it has a lot of good themes that can also be relevant to life today. “
Behind the amazing performance that FHC’s actors give on stage, they take so much time to learn and memorize the lines, the actions, and the art of making the stage feel so intense, which really brings The Crucible’s core to the stage.
“I play John Proctor, the lead, and I had to memorize a lot of lines for the role, and also to get into the headspace of the character, [and] really practice how the character would behave a lot,” Aiden said. “Stepping into the character’s shoes is the best thing that you can do.”
So many shows have been produced through FHC Theater, and there are so many more to come, but The Crucible has taken the hearts of the cast and audience for its authenticity towards history and acting.
“I think [the show] is gonna turn out really good,” Lily said. “I also think it’s gonna get a lot of traction because right now, English 10 students are reading The Crucible, and I think it’s a very popular story and a lot of people know about the witch trials.”
In numerous ways, The Crucible holds tension, art, fear, and most of all, the work of so many people combined to make such a show. The intense, overwhelming work of people creating something together can bring them together, as can the people witnessing it.
“It’s just different to try to encompass that character and try to get into that vibe,” Audrey said, “because I’ve never had a play or a show be as intense as this one is, and that’s amazing, and it’s so fun, but it makes things a lot more different and a lot harder…The Crucible is not an easy show to perform at all.”
