New Directors Series: The Crucible

Welcome all! On behalf of the Boston Conservatory at Berklee student directors, we'd like to thank you for joining us this evening. Directing these shows has been an amazing learning experience for all of us and we truly couldn't do this without your support. We would like to thank the Conservatory for giving us this platform to present work outside of the musical theater repertoire that is unique to each of our individual backgrounds. Please enjoy!

—Student directors

In 1692, the community of Salem, Massachusetts accused more than 200 people of witchcraft. Nineteen of the accused—14 women and five men—were found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. Several of the hanged were Black slaves.

In 1851, Sojourner Truth was begged not to speak during the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio. They figured that there was little sense in a Black woman speaking on women’s rights. But she did speak, and her captive audience was mostly white women.

In 1957, nine Black students integrated Little Rock Central High School for the first time. The crowd awaiting them was so dangerous that the National Guard was called in to protect the students. White women—perhaps most famously Hazel Massery—verbally and physically berated the children, who just wanted to go to school.

In 2022, Amy Coney Barrett voted with four other Supreme Court justices to overturn Roe v. Wade, essentially removing the federal right to abortion. In all of her photos, she looks rather proud. She was the only woman who voted to strike it down.

In the Civil Rights era, almost no one hated Black women’s advances more than white women. Feminism, much like other forms of liberation, did a great deal of heavy lifting to exclude Black women altogether. But the plight of every woman is a vicious one. Religion, as always, was a driving force of this division. How could a woman not advocate for a woman, even if those women were a different color? Uncle Toms, Pontious Pilates, traitors—whatever you want to call them—are, to me, the ultimate evil. Anyone willing to uphold the Devil like that is a servant to him. They’ve just got to be.

Everybody knows The Crucible. And would you look at that—so do I.

—Jacob Conley, The Crucible director

JOHN PROCTOR – Sam Patrick
ABIGAIL WILLIAMS – Olivia Cornett
ELIZABETH PROCTOR – Makayla Collins
REVEREND PARRIS – Lucas Boniface
REVEREND JOHN HALE – Justin Diaz
DEPUTY GOVERNOR DANFORTH – Dylan Gombos
MARY WARREN – Madison Clark
BETTY PARRIS – Claire May
MERCY LEWIS – Sophie Golay
REBECCA NURSE – Shay McQueenie
GILES COREY – Hakoa Harbottle
TITUBA – Dru Sky Berrian
ANN PUTNAM – Miriam Peck Marwood
THOMAS PUTNAM – Eli Schulman
CHEEVER – David Royzenblat

CREATIVE TEAM:

Director – Jacob Conley
Assistant Director – Maeve Reilly
Stage Manager – Olivia "Goose" Goosman
Lighting Designer – Olivia Monarch 

PRODUCTION STAFF:

Zach Box Technical Director – Audrey Kimball
Props Manager – Larry Dembski
Intimacy Consultants – Angie Jepson and Ori Harris

STUDENT PRODUCTION STAFF:

Sound – Olivia Monarch
Lighting – Olivia "Goose" Goosman 

CONCERT SERVICES STAFF:

Senior Manager of Concert Services – Luis Herrera 
Concert Production Coordinator – Matthew Carey
Concert Production Manager – Kendall Floyd
Senior Manager of Performance Technology – Wes Fowler
Performance Technology Technicians – Sara Pagiaro, Goran Daskalov

• Boston Conservatory at Berklee
• Zack Box staff
• Chris Webb
• Angie Jepson
• The Brothers at the Holy Transfiguration Monastery
• David and Sharon Conley
• Shawn and Kathy Reilly
• Bevin O'Gara
• Meghan DeRoche
• Marchant Davis
• Paula Plum