The Crucible (Coastal Rep)
June 16-July 2 (Half Moon Bay)
This was our first time seeing a show at Coastal Rep Theatre in Half Moon Bay and we were excited to head up there to see their production of The Crucible, directed by Allie Bailey. It was a nice venue with a large open lobby area where they had live music playing before the show and a lovely opening night reception afterwards.
About the Show
The Crucible, a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller, is a partially fictionalized story about the Salem witch trials, written as an allegory for McCarthyism, and still frighteningly relevant today. It won a Tony for Best Play in 1953 and was revived on Broadway in 2002 (with Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, and Kristin Bell) and again in 2016 (with a new original score by Philip Glass). There have been multiple film adaptations, including a 1996 version featuring Daniel Day-Lewis, and Winona Ryder.
Highlights
Lots of familiar faces involved in this show — including director Allie Bailey (who we met during Limelight’s The Outsider and then worked with again at SVCT’s A Christmas Story), Guillermo Morales (who we also met on The Outsider, and then have seen recently in Pintello’s Spamalot and SVCT’s Sweeney Todd), and Jery Rosas (who we met on A Christmas Story but had previously seen in Pintello’s Little Shop of Horrors). We had also seen Josie Burgin Lawson, Nancy Martin, and Bill C. Jones in Santa Clara Player’s production of Four Old Broads (also directed by Allie Bailey and featuring Marilyn Pifer who came to see the show with us.)
The show is powerful and the relevance of its messages and themes was reinforced by a very effective opening video highlighting book banning, anti-trans protests, the loss of Roe almost exactly a year ago, and the Jan 6 insurrection, and then moving back in time through McCarthyism and other events before getting all the way back to the Salem Witch Trials. As Allie explains in an interview, “We will have projections to go with the show that bring it into a modern era,” said director Allie Bailey. “A lot of people start the show with the girls dancing in the forest, but we’re doing something different so people realize how weighty this play is, and why we should be watching it.”
The acting was wonderful — Milan Whitfield as Abigail Williams was a real standout and I look forward to seeing what other shows she pops up in.
The set was lovely — including beautiful trees, and the lighting (yay Mykal Philbin!) and projections were really well done.
CAST LIST
Betty Parris ........................ Aya Naito
Rev. Samuel Parris .............. Scott Solomon
Tituba .............................. April Grant
Abigail Williams ............... Milan Whitfield
Susanna Walcott / Hopkins...Sage Emiliana Alberto
Mrs. Ann Putnam/Sarah Good .. Shann Oliver
Thomas Putnam/Hathorne.. Rob Hedges
Mercy Lewis ..................... Carrie Welter
Mary Warren .................... Emily Sahar Krayn
John Proctor ....................... Jery Rosas
Rebecca Nurse .................. Carolyn Ford Compton
Giles Corey ....................... Bill C. Jones
Reverand John Hale ............ Guillermo Morales
Elizabeth Proctor ................. Lisa Burton Guevara
Francis Nurse ..................... Thomas Poeschl
Ezekiel Cheever .................. Josie Burgin Lawson
John Willard ....................,. Jonathan Covey
Deputy Governor Danforth ... Nancy Martin
PRODUCTION TEAM
Director .................... Allie Bailey
Set Design and Build ... Doug McCurdy
Costume Designer ... ....Corlette Lotridge
Lighting Designer ......... Mykal Philbin
Sound Designer ...........Charlie Hoyt
Projection Designer .......Andy Kline
Props Designer .............Greet Jaspaert
Scenes from us viewing the show, including the lovely set and a chance to catch up with Guillermo and Jery. Big thank you to Elizabeth for driving us up there!