Laboratory Theater opens season with The Crucible

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible will open the 11th season at The Laboratory Theater of Florida Sept. 20. Not only is The Crucible the season opener, but it marks a milestone as the 100th production put on by the theater.
Things take a deadly turn when Reverend Parris finds a number of young women inappropriately dancing in the forest. To save themselves from punishment, they claim they’ve been bewitched by various townspeople. Once these girls, who have never had any voice or control, get a taste of the power that their claims wield, is there anything they won’t do to get everything they desire?
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is as relevant today as it was when it was first released in 1953, not long after the playwright had himself had been accused of un-American activities and communism by the McCarthy Commission. One of the original theater reviewers offered up this tidbit when asked his thoughts: “Arthur Miller’s The Crucible…is one of the great plays of American theater. A powerful and searing indictment of bigotry and ignorance, its depiction of the Salem Witch Trials of exactly 260 years ago is inescapably applicable to events today,” wrote Robert Hilliard, a Brooklyn Daily drama critic in 1953. (reaffirmed 2019.)
Assistant director Kendra Weaver says, “The theme of this play can be paralleled to any time frame, whether is 1692 or 2019. The Crucible is now!!”
Artistic director Annette Trossbach adds, “I would like to thank Robert Hilliard for his guidance and urging for the theater to produce this award-winning play by Arthur Miller. It is a great honor and a challenge to direct such a seminal, time-honored,and award-winning show. It has dramatic, supernatural, heart-wrenching, comedic, and profound moments that are expertly woven into a story that continues to have meaningful impact in our modern times. I am blessed to be working with an outrageously talented cast and crew, each member of which had this play in his or her bucket list.”
The play features Steven Coe, Imani Williams, Paul Graffy, Melanie Payne, TJ Albertson, Kinley Gomez, Casey Davis, Lauren Miller, Todd Lyman, Ruthgena Augustin, Patrick Ashton, Art Keen, Daniel Sabiston, Heather Johnson, Mike Dinko, Corey Kane, Isabel Isenhower, Elizabeth Mora, Emmie Spiller, and Tamicka Armstrong.
Directed by Annette Trossbach, the production team also includes assistant directors Rachel Burttram Powers and Kendra Weaver, stage manager Misha Ritter Polomsky, set designer Michael Eyth, light and sound designer Jonathan Johnson, costume designer Kristen Wilson and stage combat by Annette Trossbach.
There will be an opening night reception starting at 7:15 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 20, courtesy of Publix. For teens, there will be a cast and crew meet & greet with pizza generously donated by Downtown House of Pizza starting at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21, followed by a complimentary performance for the teenagers. Reservations are required. There will be an audience talkback immediately after the performance on Sunday, Sept. 29. Florida teachers are offered buy-one-get-one tickets for this production, and teachers are urged to call 239-218-0481 to make their reservations.
The Crucible plays from Sept. 20 – Oct. 12. Performance dates are Sept. 20, 21, 26, 27, 28 and Oct. 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12 at 8 p.m., and Sept. 22, 29, Oct. 6, 12 at 2 p.m.
Tickets are available to purchase on www.Brownpapertickets.com or by calling the box office at 239-218-0481. For additional savings, guests may purchase a 2019-2020 season pass. For more info, visit www.LaboratoryTheaterFlorida.com or 1634 Woodford Ave. in the River District.