The Crucible and One Book, One Chicago
Posted by Sylvia Ewing on 9/21/2007
For the past few months I’ve been working with Annie Tully of the Chicago Public Library on a series of community readings for One Book, One Chicago. The plan was to have a reading of a scene and then a panel discussion about what play with a focus on Us. vs. Them and the dangers of fear. When I was a working journalist, I always enjoyed producing townhall meetings because if people care enough to come they usually have something interesting to say.
Last night’s event at the Avalon Branch of the library did not disappoint. Mary Williams, the Branch Manager, welcomed about 25 enthusiastic guests to the impressive new facility at 8148 S. Stony Island. Actors James Houton, Lori Meyer and Ericka Ratcliff captivated the crowd with a 15 minute reading from our production of The Crucible. The scene provided a look at the troubled relationship between John and Elizabeth Proctor and their foreboding upon first learning about the trials going on in the village from their new servant. Then, former state senator Alice Palmer and journalist and businessman Lee Walker shared their perspectives on what the play meant to them.
Much of the discussion that followed was political, with a guest pointing to the Patriot Act as proof that Miller’s work is relevant today, others said that national leaders feed our fears and another audience member compared the accused citizens of Salem to people incarcerated in Illinois because of forced confessions. Politics was a big focus of the panel discussion but Lee Walker said that race is the unspoken source of much of the fear he sees in his community today and that people of all races fear being judged or saying the wrong thing.
The audience was also interested in the role of religion. The always erudite Alice Palmer said that in Salem, During the McCarthy era and now religion can be used to force people to “think in lockstep.” She recalled that John Proctor was condemned for not going to church often enough and replied that the minister rarely mentioned God. Walker said the play reminds him that people looking for leaders must look in the mirror. Palmer concluded the evening with a call to action in the spirit of a defiant John Proctor while paraphrasing Dylan Thomas - “Do not go gentle into that good night… Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”