Steppenwolf Theatre Company Blog – Chicago Theater, World-Class Ensemble

The night before the first day of The Crucible rehearsals felt a lot like the night before the first day of school. I would wake up every few hours, worried I had overslept and missed the day entirely. I was so excited, but it would be a lie to say I wasn’t nervous. The Crucible is one of the most iconic and astonishing works of American theatre, and basically, you don’t want to screw it up. I walked into the rehearsal hall and saw four huge tables arranged in a circle to accommodate our sizable cast. There are about 20 people in our show, and a group that large is rare for a non-musical. Actors whom I deeply admire began to arrive and take their seats. Everyone who works on the administrative side of things came down to say hi and introduce him/herself. Gorgeous design presentations were made, and slowly our little play began to feel like a big freakin’ deal. Which of course it is! You just don’t want to be hyper-aware of that during the first read through.

Luckily, Ms. Anna D. was there to quell our nerves. She gave an opening address that was inspired and heartfelt, explaining why doing the play at this moment is so important to her. She told us to let go of any preconceived notion or pressure of doing THE CRUCIBLE. The people onstage have to be as real and recognizable as the people walking around today. The characters may speak differently, but they experience the same emotions and are as susceptible to fear and personal agenda as we are now. No good guys, no bad guys, just folks making mistakes and trying to get by - trying to survive. Which is the only way the play is worth doing or seeing at all, right?

Right before we began the read through - our first step into weeks of trying to figure out who these people are and how to tell this classic story - Anna said, “Just give it the good old college try. And remember that as terrified as you are, the person sitting next to you is probably more scared.” She happened to be sitting next to me.

We just finished our second week of rehearsal, and we’re all working together to avoid the traps in putting up a play that everyone has seen or studied at some point. Relationships are becoming clearer, personal motives are more and more sympathetic, and the “idea” of what we thought these people were is fading. In short, I think it’s starting to get good.

This entry was posted by Kelly O'Sullivan on Wednesday, September 5th, 2007 at 9:45 am and is filed under The Crucible. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.