THE CRUCIBLE by Arthur Miller

THE CRUCIBLE: Arthur Miller's account of the REAL single greatest witchhunt in American history.

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I am a very young-looking actress.  I'm often cast to play quirky, sweet, and shy teenagers.  But I love it when I get the chance to use my youthful appearence in a super twisted way.  That's what I'm doing today.

THE CRUCIBLE

By Arthur Miller

Although Abigail Williams may look sweet and innocent,  she is anything but.  She's a kid who got rejected for the first time in her life.  She's hurt, and she's angry.  So, she makes an accusation.   Suddenly, she becomes the most powerful person in Salem.  

This intimate look at the Salem Witch trials is not completely historically accurate.  The historical facts that were changed are noted at the beginning of the play.  Arthur Miller created these characters from trial records and letters.  The play takes place in 1692 and it was written in 1953, when "witch hunting" was happening in America again- this time, the fear this time was communism.  Miller himself was questioned by The House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities.  The original production received bad reviews, but still went on to win the Tony, and to become a classic of the American Theatre.

Reverend Parris' young daughter, Betty lies motionless.  He begs Abigail Williams, a seventeen-year-old orphan and friend of Betty's, to tell him what she and his daughter were doing in the woods before Betty got sick- he suspects witchcraft, curtousey of his maid Tituba, who was also in the woods that night. Abigail denies everything.  Other young girls arrive, including Mary Warren (seventeen, a "subservient, naive, lonely girl").  We learn that they did dance and practice witchcraft that night, although Mary Warren claims she only looked.  Abigail drank blood- a charm to kill Goody Proctor.  Abigail violently threatens the girls so that they promise not to say anything.

Enter John Proctor. (Husband of the woman that Abigail tried to kill.)  All of the girls except for Abigail quickly leave.  Abigail attempts to seduce John Proctor- they've slept together before.  John vows that he never will again, but Abigail is distraught- how dare he show her a whole new part of the world and then deprive her of that?

Fear is spreading throughout Salem.  Children are dying and the people want answers. Abigail gives them the scapegoat they are looking for.  Abigail is so cunning and manipulative that she gets Tituba to confess to witch craft.   Betty rises from the bed with "a fever in her eyes."   The act ends with Abigail and Betty accusing over a dozen women.

Act 2 begins with John Proctor and his wife, Elizabeth (an amazing two-person scene.)  Elizabeth catches John in a lie about Abigail, and loses all trust in him.  Mary Warren enters to tell John that he must go back into Salem- thirty-nine women are now accused, and some of them will be hanged.  She also reveals that Elizabeth has been accused.  Abigail is trying to get rid of Elizabeth and take her place with John.

Mary Warren had given Elizabeth a puppet that day and when Elizabeth is questioned, the puppet is discovered to have a needle in its stomach.  Ealier that night, Abigail had been having dinner.  All of the sudden, she screamed and fell to the floor.  When he went to help her, the Reverend discovered a needle plunged two inches into Abigail's stomach.  Elizabeth is immediately arrested.  End of Act 2.

Act 3 begins with the witch hunt spreading beyond Salem.  Four hundred women are in jails and seventy-two are condemned to hang.  The officials believe that because they've seen people choked and possessed with their own two eyes then it must be the truth.  Mary Warren is brought into court.  She breaks down, and admits that she has been lying.  The rest of the girls are brought in.  Abigail refuses to confess.  Mary Warren is asked to prove that they were lying by pretending to faint the same way she did when she was "possessed."  She cannot do it.  But then Abigail says "A wind, a cold wind has come." And all the girls are freezing.

In the chaos, John admits that he slept with Abigail.  In another room, his wife is being questioned.  She is asked if John has ever slept with Abigial.  To protect John, she says no.  The count assumes that John is lying.  Elizabeth is taken away, John is arrensted and sentanced to hang.  Elizabeth visits John (another fantastic two-person scene) and he asks her if he should confess.  She says it does not matter- it is his soul, not hers and she believes that he is a good man.  The play ends when John is taken away to be hanged.

A WILD THING MAY SAY WILD THINGS.  BUT NOT SO WILD, I THINK.  I HAVE SEEN YOU SINCE SHE PUT ME OUT; I HAVE SEEN YOU NIGHTS.

I HAVE A SENSE FOR HEAT, JOHN, AND YOURS HAS DRAWN ME TO MY WINDOW, AND I HAVE SEEN YOU LOOKING UP, BURNING IN YOUR LONLINESS.  DO YOU TELL ME YOU'VE NEVER LOOKED UP AT MY WINDOW?

I KNOW YOU, JOHN.  I KNOW YOU.   I CANNOT SLEEP FOR DREAMIN'; I CANNOT DREAM BUT I WAKE AND WALK ABOUT THE HOUSE AS THOUGH I FIND YOU COMIN' THROUGH SOME DOOR.  

I LOOK FOR THE JOHN PROCTOR THAT TOOK ME FROM MY SLEEP AND PUT KMNOWLEDGE IN MY HEART!  I NEVER KNEW WHAT PRETENSE SALEM WASS, I NEVER KNEW THE LYNG LESSONS I WAS TAUGHT BY ALL THESE CHRISTIAN WOMEN AND THEIR COVENANTED MEN!  AND NOW YOU BID ME TEAR THE LIGHT OUT OF MY EYES?  I WILL NOT, I CANNOT!  YOU LOVE ME, JOHN PROCTOR, AND WHATEVER SIIN IT IS, YOU LOVE ME YET!

JOHN, PITY ME, PITY ME!

Anna Ziegler's 'Life Science'

Hi!

It's Eileen!

I'm back!

And I have three awesome plays coming your way- stay tuned!

Today's monologue is from -

LIFE SCIENCE 

BY ANNA ZIEGLER

Anna Ziegler is an amazing playwright.   Her other plays include "BFF," "Boy" (which was just Off-Broadway at Keen Company/Ensemble Studio Theatre), and "Actually" (which will be performed in the Williamstown Festival this year.)  "Life Science" is one of her lesser known plays.

Typical teens trying to determine what they mean to the political world and trying to cope with everyday teenage troubles.  Dana, Leah, and Mike are all Jewish, and are trying to figure out what that means to them.

DANA  17. Asks big, slightly inappropriate questions at slightly inappropriate times.  "An alpha girl, very pretty, and outwardly confident."  Pretends to be less smart than she is.

LEAH 17.  Feels 19.  "talkative, high-strung, a little nervous, very intelligent.  The kind of slightly geeky girl who has a handful of cool friends but isn't quite cool herself."  A self-proclaimed sad and thoughtful person.

TOM Asian.  Adopted. "Quiet but not a dork, even-keeled, modest measured, smart.  A respected loner."

MIKE "A bit of a jock, but no dummy even though he thinks he is.  He's popular and attractive."

The play begins with Leah and Tom discussing the political climate in the middle East, Antisemitism, and Jewish identity.  Well, Leah talks, and Tom just listens.  The scene quickly shifts to the most awkward sort-of date ever.  Leah's drinking.  Tom is not.  They sort-of like-like each other.  We also learn that Dana and Mike went out for eleven months and nine days, Mike wanted to sleep with her and she wasn't ready, but it's obvious that Dana still likes him.

Everyone thinks that Dana is having a "mid-life crisis"- she has decided not to go to college.  Then, she sees a news report about a twelve-year-old boy named Abdul from Lebanon whose parents were killed.  She is inspired to adopt him.

Leah and Tom make out.  It's awkward at best.  Leah says things like "your parents go away alot... don't they love you" and just as they're about to kiss "Has anyone ever told you that you look a little... I mean, young for your age?"  And then after they kiss "Did you know, you kind of... no offense or anything, but you kind of kiss like a fish? ... I wouldn't call it good.  It felt a little... inexperienced."  Leah reminds me a lot of Lucy from Charlie Brown.  Despite all of this, Leah wants to date Tom.

Neither one of them has dated before, so her idea is that they date for one year, just to have the experience.  But before he answers, Tom falls asleep.  Leah then has a short monologue where we begin to understand her problem- despite everything and everyone around her, she feels completely alone.  (This is a great monologue, though a little short- the one we'll be looking at comes a bit later in the play.)

Everyone judges Dana for wanting to adopt Abdul.  She has taken steps forward and has begun the adoption process.  Leah especially thinks she's crazy.  They fight.  It ends with

DANA. So you're afraid of who you are?

LEAH. Yes!

DANA.  Well, good.  So am I!

Dana and Mike have a fight in art class.  Mike thinks that if she wasn't ready to have sex with him, how could she possibly be ready to adopt a child.

Leah is sitting in the stairwell freaking out about college applications.  Mike begins to comfort her and quickly kisses her.  Leah immediately goes to text Tom.  She accidently texts Dana.

Leah tells Mike he kisses really well.  Mike tells Leah she's pretty.  Leah tells Mike she's imagined this happening since about the fifth grade.  Mike has trouble finding words for the way he is feeling.  Leah comforts him- "You're lonely. that's all."  They have a deep conversation- the kind of conversation that Leah has been trying to have all along.

Leah and Dana have back-to-back monologues.  We'll be looking at Leah's.  (Dana's is great, but harder to understand outside the context of the show.)  Leah is apologizing to Tom.  Dana is at her interview to see if she is a fit parent for Abdul.  But, during the interview, she has a change of heart. "From what I've heard, people become their parents; they become the parents their parents were, whether they want to or not and I just can't... inflict that on Abdul.  I just can't.  I mean, look at me.  Look at me."

Next we see a split-stage.  Mike and Dana on one side, in bed together.  They've just had sex.  Leah and Tom on the other side, making ammends.  Dana reads Mike a letter from Abdul.  She feels terrible.  Leah and Tom talk about more typical high school topics- fear of college, fear of sex, wanting to be ready for all of it.  Mike tells Dana he had sex with someone else when they were broken up, then he tells her he loves her.  She's not okay.  And that's it- that's the end of the play- a crazy conction of stereotypical high school drama, morbid thoughts, and mature existential life questions all through the lens of a couple of teenage friends.

Now, for the monologue.  Leah is apologizing to Tom.  (In the play, she is leaving him a voice mail.  I perfer to perform it as though he's standing in front of me.)

LEAH

I have an iPod Nano.  I have a Dell laptop.  I have a Samsung cell phone.  I have a J. Crew credit card.  I have eleven applications out at eleven schools.  I have a younger brother and two anxious parents.  I'm not sure who I am and what I'm meant to do.  I'm sorry that I got confused.  My mom says confusion is just this natural human thing, and unavoidable, but my dad thinks it's the mark of a weak person and I really don't want to think of myself that way, as a weak person.  Do you think I'm...?

No, what I'm trying to say is... there are just so many things... My mother was crying last night because what if I don't get into college, and what if I do?  And Dylan's obsessed with the Civil War now and his room is filled with these awful daguerreotypes and you look in these soldiers eyes and just see how they don't know this is the last picutre that they'll ever have taken of them, that tomorrow they'll be thrown onto this battlefield and they'll never come home again.

Um.  What I really mean is... I didn't mean it when I said I only wanted to go out with you temporarily.  I'm sorry for saying that.   I think it was a kind of... weak thing to say, or do to you, because I'm realizing more and more that words are acts, or deeds or whatever... and I wish I could have used mine better, impressed you more by saying the right things.  No.  I wish I could have earned your respect.  So maybe you'll give me another chance to do that?  I don't know.  I mean, it would be great if you called me.  I mean, if you wanted to call me.  But.

Okay.  So... Bye.