After 40 years, The Crucible makes its way back to the LBCC Performing Arts Department, coupled with a sold out first night and directing debut for Amanda Zarr, the production touched on themes relevant in today’s social and political climate.
“The Crucible highlights the way in which we call out others that are different from us in order to profit from it. This is a really difficult show. We can’t give it less than 100 percent, but we have an amazing cast to tackle this tough story” said Zarr, while on speakerphone in her car in between play rehearsals and her teaching job at Chapman University.
Written in 1953, the play is set in the late fifteenth century during the Salem Witch Trials, which served as an allegorical story for exclusion running parallel to the ‘red scare’ of the 1950’s, when Americans were asked to name suspected communists in order to retain their own presumed innocence.
While directing, Zarr did not hesitate to draw inspiration from headlines and stories surrounding us today. “The political climate has become quite volatile which has caused a lot of these themes to come to the forefront in America much like in the fifties during communism when Miller was writing the play. It’s happening right now, the feelings towards immigrants, towards black people, people of color. There is a lot of exclusion, people deciding if you live or die. It’s very disturbing” said Zarr.
Playwright Arthur Miller wrote and produced the story before being blacklisted by the House Un-American Activity, who denied him his passport for entry into London when the play premiered overseas in 1954 after a lukewarm reception on Broadway earlier the year before.
“This show means a lot to me personally, I did it in undergrad and it was a very strong positive memory for me,” said Zarr, “There is a lot of problematic storytelling and themes that can’t be ignored. I did not ignore these things during my direction.”
The students working with Zarr on The Crucible participated in collaborative rehearsals where they left feeling like a team.
Donna Thiang, the assistant director, felt Zarr was so approachable that she simply walked up to her and asked her to be her assistant for the production.
“She’s very hands on which I love. When she’s doing the blocking, she is on stage with the actors, other directors would only tell you what to do,” said Thiang, “We would fine tune and give the actors other opportunities to try new things because she did not want them to get stuck in a box. She let them know to not be afraid and try new things, not worry about what she wants but find the right emotion and intention on their own.”
Zarr, a graduate with a BFA from Chapman, has been a professor for over 18 years throughout southern California.
Along with being part-time at LBCC since the fall of 2018, she directs and teaches at Chapman University, The American Academy of Dramatic Arts and The California School of Arts San Gabriel Valley.