SUMMIT, NJ — Arthur Miller’s classic play, “The Crucible,” will be running at The Summit Playhouse until Saturday, March 8.
The story focuses on a young farmer, his wife and a young servant girl who maliciously causes the wife’s arrest for witchcraft. The farmer brings the girl to court to admit the lie – and it is here that the monstrous course of bigotry and deceit is terrifyingly depicted. The farmer, instead of saving his wife, finds himself also accused of witchcraft and ultimately condemned with a host of others.
Director Kevern Cameron said, “It’s one of the great plays of history. Arthur Miller wrote it and produced it in 1953, at the height of the McCarthy hearings. People were being accused without fact of being Communists, losing jobs and all sorts of things. He thought the Salem witch trials had a parallel to what was going on in the United States at the time. Miller has created an artificial language, but it gives it a period flavor. The combination of this elegant writing and this very powerful story makes for a wonderful play.”
During auditions, Cameron said they had an outstanding turn out among theater people. “Men and women have this on their bucket list to do before they get out of theater,” he said.
The cast of actors range from ages 13 to 80, from people without extensive experience and people who have been doing this for decades. What’s outstanding for Cameron is their enthusiasm. “I think audiences are gonna adore it,” said Cameron. “The set designers, the costume people, the hair and make-up. You have props. You have a lot of people who are diligent and thorough and creative about getting those areas complete. They do it better than most. They know what they’re doing and they’re creative and energetic about doing it.”
While the cast comes highly motivated, Cameron, as a director, thinks his responsibility is to help them take their creativity and mold that into pieces that work together with all the other actors on stage. “When you get good actors, it’s very easy to motivate them in that sense,” he said. “You reassure them that they are doing well. You’re just there to be a guide and have a picture in mind that you want to create, and you can get everybody to fit in harmoniously.”
What Cameron said he loves about directing is that he has the greatest control over what the whole thing looks like. “When you’re acting, you don’t have the ability to shape an entire piece,” he said. “The ability to make theater a whole piece of theater is exquisite. It’s a wonderful thing to do. Working with other creative people, collaborating with other creative people. There’s enormous energy when people are committed to the same end and are agreeing to work on it together and throwing all sorts of ideas into the pot and stirring those around. You always get a better thing in combination.”
But directing doesn’t come without challenges. “Planning, scheduling, casting 21 people, the crews…These are all amateurs. They have lives outside of rehearsal. Trying to put together the jigsaw puzzle of everybody’s schedules, that’s one of the real aspects of directing,” Cameron said.
He also points out that “The Crucible” books are still coming out, about the Salem witch trials. “The literature is very deep,” he said. “You’re not presenting history, you’re telling the story. The context of the McCarthy hearings; Miller knew exactly what he was doing when he wrote the play. It was meant to get people thinking during the McCarthy era. It’s a great play, because of all those dangerous elements that show themselves so clearly in the 1950s, how people can be manipulated by fear.”
Cameron has been into theater nearly his entire life. He was first onstage at age 4 and remembers writing and directing his first play in fifth grade. “I always loved theater,” he said.
He received his undergraduate at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, in 1966 and did graduate work at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. “Sounds trivial, but because of its location, it has an excellent theater program,” he said. “It has close ties to Asian theater. On the mainland, you may not learn a great deal of Asian theater.”
Now, nearly 80 years old, Cameron is retired. His last job was teaching theater and public speaking, retiring in 2012. “I keep busy in community theater,” he said. “It keeps me active. It keeps me thinking. It’s a good thing to do in retirement.”
For tickets to see “The Crucible,” visit: https://www.thesummitplayhouse.org/.
Photos Courtesy of Sandra Nissen