- November 26, 2024
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Arthur Miller’s 1952 dramatization of the Salem witch trials, of Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1692 and 1693, will come to life on the Flagler Auditorium stage this weekend when Flagler Palm Coast High School presents its production of “The Crucible.”
Opening curtain is 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 1. The show also will run Friday and Saturday with a 2 p.m. Sunday matinee. Tickets for students, staff and teachers will be half price at the matinee.
Theater director Kelly Nelson, who is in her second year at FPC, said she chose this show because it is a challenging script with a high-quality storyline and a lot of characters.
“We have built our program tremendously just within my first year here at FPC as director,” she said. “We have a large and quite talented cast who have worked hard to translate the weighty text and emotion of Miller's play for the audience.”
One cast member who has to connect with emotion is Taylor McNanny, who plays Abigail Willaims, the finger-pointer in the witch trials. The sophomore, who played Dodger in last year's production of "Oliver!" said being chosen for the part came as a surprise because she is a young performer.
“Abigail Williams is a really complex character,” McNanny said. “She is completly different from who I am in real life.”
For Nelson, the play offers more to the audience than a story of a witch hunt. It's also a lesson in politics.
“I think in this election year with so much political division between both major parties, it can hit a relevant note of how easy it is to slander and accuse people,” Nelson said. “In the case of ‘The Crucible,’ it resulted in the death of innocent people. During McCarthyism, it was a social death. In modern political times, it creates division instead of unity that is so essential for our country to function at its best.”
