Quantum Theatre goes back to nature both literally and figuratively as it stages "The Crucible" in an open-air setting.
Returning to the same outdoor setting in which it produced "Dark of the Moon" last season, the theater company will perform Arthur Miller's classic American drama in the Rose Garden of Mellon Park in Shadyside.
"This is a story that needs to be told, and this is the right time to tell this story," says Rodger Henderson, the play's director.
First produced on Broadway in 1953, "The Crucible" and its tale of the fear, repression and moral struggles that overtake a 17th-century New England town when prominent citizens are accused of practicing witchcraft. It will be forever linked in most people's minds with its deliberate parallels to the accusations of communist sympathies and connections that arose out of Congressional hearings in the 1950s to uncover communist conspirators among the American citizenry. Accusations of membership in or sympathy toward communist organizations were often as difficult to prove or disprove as were the accusations of witchcraft laid by the play's young girls in Salem, Mass.
"We know he wrote it during the McCarthy era. But it's not about that. That's not the story he told but the conditions he told it in. We're not pushing the political stuff because it's there and you get it. If not, that's OK, too," Henderson says. "What I love is (Miller) wrote about totally human conditions against such a volatile background."
Miller almost certainly was inspired by the McCarthy hearings. But in his introductory comments he linked the play to a less specific but ongoing American concern.
"The witch hunt was a perverse manifestation of the panic which set in among all classes when the balance began to turn toward greater individual freedom," Miller wrote. "It is still impossible for man to organize his social life without repressions, and the balance has yet to be struck between order and freedom.
That struggle for balance continues more than half a century later, says Quantum Theatre's artistic director Karla Boos.
"The play is the story of human beings acting according to human nature. ... (It's) a situation that is both timeless and current." Boos says. "The thing to get is that these people's lives were affected by fear and political conditions."
By choosing to stage the play oudoors Boos and Henderson are consciously bringing the debate into the open.
Henderson thinks the outdoor setting will help to get across one of the play's themes. "I wanted to explore what happens when nature goes awry," Henderson says. "I like the juxtaposition between not having walls and (the idea) that they are trapping themselves. ... The playing surfaces themselves become a trap. You don't need walls to trap you."
The stage is built from the same rough-hewn planks that were used for "Dark of the Moon" last year. They're now slightly more weathered and placed in a somewhat different but still circular configuration. The platforms rise above and are surrounded by slightly overgrown hedges and a scattering of weeds that hint at the how difficult it is to restrain nature.
Boos has no intention of allowing anyone to prune those hedges before opening night.
"We're not tidying up anything. I want it out of control. Nature is out of control. This is our fourth outdoor show and we know we can't control it," she says. Additional Information:
'The Crucible'
Produced by: Quantum TheatreWhen: Today-Aug. 20 at 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Sundays and Aug. 15. No performance Aug. 12
Admission: $24 and $27, $15 for students
Where: Mellon Park, Fifth Avenue at Shady Avenue, Shadyside
Details: 412-394-3353 or www.quantumtheatre.com
