Penobscot Theatre to present ‘Crucible’

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BANGOR – Penobscot Theatre, downtown Bangor’s professional theater, will present Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” and join with community cultural partners to explore the themes in this modern classic.

A series of exhibits and discussions will comprise the Classics in Context project and will involve the Margaret Chase Smith Library, the Bangor Public Library, the Salem Witch Museum and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“The Crucible,” Arthur Miller’s most frequently produced play, tells the story of the Salem witch trials of the late 17th century in which 19 people were put to death after hysterical or malicious accusations of witchcraft. The ruthlessness of the prosecutors and the eagerness of neighbor to testify against neighbor brilliantly illuminate the destructive power of socially sanctioned violence.

Written in 1953, “The Crucible” is a mirror Miller uses to reflect the anti-communist hysteria inspired by Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s “witch hunts.” Maine’s unique connection to both historic events, the witch hunts of Salem and the hearings of the House Un-American Activities Committee, will be examined in the Classics in Context project.

In the case of the original trials in Salem, many of these characters made their homes in Maine. And in the McCarthy era, Maine’s Sen. Margaret Chase Smith of Skowhegan challenged the proceedings with her defiant and courageous Declaration of Conscience speech.

“The Crucible” will run Nov. 5 through Nov. 14 at the Bangor Opera House, 131 Main St. in downtown Bangor. Half-price performances are scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 3-4. Opening night is 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 5. A pay-what-you-wish performance will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 2.

The creative team for PT’s production of “The Crucible” will be led by visiting director Tlaloc Rivas and includes costume designer Susan Smith, lighting designer Lynne Chase, and set designer Merope Vachlioti.

Tlaloc Rivas has established a diverse array of directing credits and is recognized as one of this country’s up-and-coming theatre artists. “The Crucible” marks his directorial debut for Penobscot Theatre. Among Rivas’ recent directing credits are the world premieres of Gustavo Ott’s “80 Teeth, 4 Feet & 500 Pounds” at NYSF-Public Theatre, Andrea Thome’s “Undone at INTAR,” New York City, and a new adaptation of George Orwell’s “1984,” University of the Arts.

Rivas is the recipient of the prestigious NEA-TCG Fellowship for Emerging Directors, a directing fellowship with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and is a Usual Suspect for New York Theatre Workshop.

He received his training at the University of California, Santa Cruz and the University of Washington’s School of Drama. A native of Baja, Calif., he is named after the Aztec god of rain.

Susan Smith most recently costumed PT productions of “Dracula,” “The Fantasticks,” “The Miracle Worker,” “A Christmas Carol” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.”

Lynne Chase lives in Connecticut and is the resident lighting designer at Penobscot Theatre. Most recently, she designed the lights for the entire 2003-2004 season at Penobscot Theatre.

A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, Chase has attended Cornell and Harvard and has also been the resident lighting designer at Horse Cave Theatre in Horse Cave, Ken.

Merope Vachlioti, set designer, a graduate of Yale School of Drama, joins the PT team from New York where recent projects include “Long Road Home,” “The Unconscious Motives Of The Motion Picture Industry,” “The Lady From The Sea,” and “The Mysteries Of Eleusis.” She is also the resident designer for Theater by the Blind.

The cast of “The Crucible,” numbering 24, includes a variety of familiar names as well as several newcomers.

James Noel Hoban and Meagan Hawkes will play the pivotal roles of John and Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail Williams will be played by Liz Finnegan, and Dennis Price will play the Reverend Parris.

John Greenman and Tom Crutcher play Judge Hathorne and Deputy Governor Danforth, with Nathan Raleigh as the Reverend Hale. The cast also features Mike Abernethy, Laura Aube, Roberta “Bunny” Barclay, Norah Margaret Bird, Louise Contino, Leslie Forstadt, Morgan Greenlaw, Claire Kiedrowski, Bill Kuykendall, Charlotte Herbold, Elizabeth Lutz, Farhiya Mahamud, Philip Price, Jim Reitz, Caroline Samp, Taylor Schultz and Scott Sortman.

James Noel Hoban was seen most recently in Commonwealth Shakespeare’s summer production of “Much Ado About Nothing” on Boston Common. His other regional theater credits include “Two Gentlemen of Verona,” “The Philadelphia Story” and “Julius Caesar” at the Theater at Monmouth; “A Christmas Carol” and “The Misanthrope” at Portland Stage Company; and the musical “Martin Guerre” at the 2001 NOMTI Festival in Boston.

Meagan Hawkes, a Bates and Emerson College graduate, was last seen here in the role of “C” in Penobscot Theatre’s production of “Three Tall Women.” She then took a brief hiatus from acting to work as a producer on a nationally syndicated television series, and to complete the documentary that would become her graduate thesis.

Now making her home in Boston, Hawkes is a working actor and on-camera-voiceover talent, with clients including Key Bank, Fidelity Investments, Nokia, and Comcast. In addition to the characters she’s played at PT, other favorite stage roles include Maggie in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” Jessie in “‘Night Mother,” and Holly in “The Spacemaker.”

Liz Finnegan, a southern Maine native, is a recent graduate of NYU-Tisch School of the Arts with a bachelor’s degree in drama. While there she studied at the Lee Strasberg Institute and the Atlantic Theater Co. Finnegan spent this past summer working as an intern at the Theater at Monmouth.

Dennis Price is making his PT debut. After spending three years in Chicago studying improvisational comedy with Charna Halpern at the ImprovOlympic Theater, he found himself in Maine working for the Theater at Monmouth as well as the Children’s Theater of Maine. Favorite roles include Dogberry in “Much Ado About Nothing,” Valentine in “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” Dr. Waldersee in “Idiot’s Delight” and Pompey in “Antony and Cleopatra.”

John Greenman is best known in Maine for his work at Maine PBS, especially as host of “Media Watch.” In recent years he’s appeared in local community theater productions such as “Jacob’s Folly,” “Narnia,” and “See How They Run” and “The Taming of the Shrew” – both with Ten Bucks Theatre. He also sang for years with the a capella group Impromptu!

Tom Crutcher is returning to PT after playing Mr. Van Daan in “The Diary of Anne Frank” and Gonzalo in “The Tempest.”

PT will collaborate with the following organizations in its Classics in Context project:

. Margaret Chase Smith Library is a nonprofit research center and museum of 20th century political artifacts committed to bringing the ideals of Sen. Smith’s career in public service to the people of Maine and the nation.

. The Bangor Public Library serves as the area research and reference center for northern and eastern Maine. Its collection holds more than 500,000 volumes of books, periodicals, government documents and recordings.

. The Salem Witch Museum is housed in an 1845 stone building that was originally the Second Church Unitarian and presents an overview of the Salem witch trials of 1692.

. The United States Attorney’s Office, Paula Silsby, U.S. attorney.

Dates, times and tickets for all of PT’s season 2004-2005 productions may be obtained by calling 942-3333 or visiting the box office at the Bangor Opera House, 131 Main St., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Information is also available at www.PenobscotTheatre.org.

“The Crucible” is produced in part with generous support from the city of Bangor; the National Endowment for the Arts; production sponsors Farrell, Rosenblatt & Russell, Maine Community Foundation; production underwriters The Maine Humanities Council and the Maine Arts Commission; hospitality sponsor Hampton Inn; and media sponsors WLBZ 2, Bangor Daily News, WEZQ 92.9, WBZN 107.3.