Our first play back in the Mainstage Theatre after the
renovation was David Mamet’s Oleanna, not my favorite play.
I think it was the pathetic weak-willed nature of the
characters rather than the subject that made me dislike the play.
I did not LIKE either of the characters and did not care
what happened to them.
The two person play had a single set made up of many
bookcases suggesting a round office.
After the show many of the bookcases wandered off to various
staff offices.
Our spring production of The Crucible by Arthur
Miller was a much more interesting production.
Written in 1953, the play was a reaction to Joseph McCarthy
and the Red Scare of the late 1940’s but the play was set during the Salem
witch trials of 1692.
Our Director chose to set the play to the 1950’s during the
time of the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings.
At first I was not sure about it but the play was over 40
years old at that point so the time shifting seemed to work fine.
The settings were fragmented suggestions of locations, with
the courtroom have the most detail.
In the courtroom we
had two large TV monitors with a video feed coming from a 1950’s looking TV
camera.
The TV camera was made from a 1950’s effect projector
mounted on the heavy base of an old Strong Super Trooper follow spot.
A small video camera was hidden in the unit with a cable
running out to the two TV’s.
The camera was focused on the accused who was facing upstage
and the judges.
The effect was great and added to the tension of the trial
scene.
It come as no
surprise to my regular readers that we still have the makeshift TV camera down
in storage.
Several local adult actors supplemented the large student
cast for a strong and powerful production
.
The Department had done a production of The Crucible back in 1967
and those past cast members who were located were invited to the newer
production.
One returning cast member was a former minor local TV
personality who unfortunately passed away soon after his visit.
Another former actor with a degenerative disease came in a
wheelchair and her family said that she was just so happy to have been invited
and return to Brockport.
The other returning cast members enjoyed the show but
enjoyed seeing each other even more.
The show ran fine and another school year was done.
After a two year break it was time again for summer theatre
at Brockport.
Coming up: Barnum.
