The Crucible Road Shows
Posted by Sylvia Ewing on 10/15/2007Last week a small auditorium at the Blackstone Library felt like the emotional cauldron of John and Elizabeth Proctor’s Salem kitchen, thanks to the transformative power of live theater. Hyde Park lived up to its reputation as an active cultural community when 50 residents turned up to see a reading and to talk about the message and the meaning of The Crucible. The actors provided fuel for a conversation that covered everything from how the fear of change impacts a community to questions about who profits from fear. The event was part of the One Book, One Chicago Steppenwolf Partnership. The panel gathered to talk about The Crucible on this night included young activist and broadcaster Silvia Rivera of Radio Arte, Waldo Johnson from a little neighborhood school known as the University of Chicago and the ever youthful Dr. Quentin Young.
Silvia Rivera was eloquent in her comments about fear of immigrants. She also reminded the audience of the uncanny similarity, in her view, between Judge Danforth’s words about “being with the court or against it” and the Presidents comments on the war in Iraq.
Waldo Johnson said that one of the outcomes of mass fear is the tendency to pass the buck and blame others, to prevent our own flaws and weaknesses from coming to light. He sees fear of change in his community and fear of new people.
Dr. Quentin Young reminded the impassioned audience that while this country has seen tragically divisive episodes of mass hysteria with the Salem and anti-communist trials, we’ve also experienced times when the masses came together in solidarity to end slavery, gain rights for women and address environmental challenges.
I love these “road shows” because our art opens the door for dialogue that is meaningful to and reflective of a particular community. The next One Book, One Chicago discussion takes place on Oct 15 with Steppenwolf Artistic Director Martha Lavey taking on the role of moderator at the Harold Washington Library.
October 15th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
What in the hell was on stage Saturday night? Did Mr. Pendelton get his notice of a new role the day before? The second act would not have qualified as mediocre community theater. Was he drunk and didn’t know the lines or just didn’t know the lines?
October 16th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Dear Darryl,
As you note, you came to The Crucible on the day when several of our actors were performing their roles for the first time. We very carefully selected the three replacement actors, committed them to knowing their lines before their week of rehearsal, and made our director available to them for discussion of the play before the rehearsal week. Despite their week of rehearsal with the cast and director, and all evidence in those rehearsals that they were fully in command of their lines, the first day of performance proved challenging.
As a fellow actor, I am very sympathetic to this situation–the (very natural) nerves of being in front of an audience for the first time can have a surprising and deleterious effect on one’s memory. The new actors are continuing to work with their stage manager, drilling the text, and even by Sunday, their enhanced confidence and command on stage was apparent.
We are very proud to bring our production of August: Osage County to Broadway but would never want our work at Steppenwolf in Chicago to suffer as a result of that good fortune. Our Chicago audiences have been and always will be our priority. Maintaining the quality of our production of The Crucible is very important to us.
Ultimately, theater is a human activity, created by human beings who are, by their nature, fallible. We seek perfection in our productions, as does each of our actors in performance. Like most human beings, we don’t always achieve it. We hope you will continue to watch us try.
October 16th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
I come from a small city in central Maine. I was extremely excited to be able to attend a performance of “The Crucible” in Chicago at such a professional level. My level of disappointment after watching the show however was equal to my overly optimistic excitement of seeing it. We have our own small professional theatre here in my community, and the majority of the productions that I have attended here far surpassed the level of acting in Steppenwolf’s production. I was immediately stunned at the very beginning of the show by the performances of the two fathers whose daughters had become afflicted. Rather than depicting two frightened and bewildered fathers whose emotions grow to a level of hysteria, fueled by fear and a sense of helplessness, they were shouting from the get go in a way that I have only seen in high school performances or badly done adult shows. Shouting is not acting. Thank goodness for the strong performances of many other members of the cast, especially the actors playing the roles of John and Elizabeth Proctor and Reverand Hale. Their interpretations were very believable and extremely moving. As to the actor Mr. Pendleton, I am in complete agreement with the comments of Darryl Schimeck. His demeanor and performance were very distresssing, to the point that my 19 year old son, who has grown up in the world of theatre, and is a performer himself, said that he was unable to enjoy the show as he could not get beyond Mr. Pendleton’s apparent state of inebriation. We left the theatre feeling that the price of the tickets were wasted and regretted our decision to attend. Sadly, we will not return to this theatre as a result of this experience. Coming from a working class family where spending close to two hundred dollars to see a show is a rare occurrence, we will not risk being subjected to such an unprofessional show again. We do not have the means to “continue to watch us try”.
October 17th, 2007 at 11:33 am
I was also really looking forward to seeing the Crucible last night. I have been a Steppenwolf subscriber for many years and was looking forward to Steppenwolf production of such a classic. In the years of attendance- there have been a number of plays that I have not enjoyed but I have always at least been able to say that the acting was terrific. In nearly 20 years of my relationship with Steppenwolf, last night was the exception.
I have never blogged before but after such a terriblily disappointing show last night, I felt the need to let somone know about it.
Reading the 2 blog entries before me- I see that I am not alone and must say that I so agree both with Darryl Schmeck and Audrey Swanton. What was that last night? I have honestly seen better Highschool performances. John Proctor’s character was outstanding! Unfortunately making the rest of the production seem that much more uneven. We were considering leaving after the 1st act but decided to stay -wrong decision as the 2nd act made the 1st seem palitable. Flubbed lines, missed ques. Austin Pendeltons performance, wrongly cast to begin with, was torturous to sit through as was the performance of the afflicted girl’s father. Since this was the 1st play of the new season - I asked my friend if we had in fact changed our tickets to a “Dress Rehearsal” series.
October 17th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
Martha—
We will indeed continue to watch you try and will continue to support this great enterprise. When you set the bar as high as you do and fall short, everyone gasps—maybe sometimes a bit too loudly, myself included. Congratulations on Osage County, looking forward to Good Boys.
October 17th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
I regret it whenever a member of our audience feels disappointed by our work. I assure you however, that Mr. Pendleton was not “drunk” for the performance. Any unsteadiness that you witnessed was entirely the function of an actor being in front of the audience for the first time in a new role. Again, I regret any disappointment but must emphasize that Austin is a thorough professional and would never deliberately compromise his performance ability.
October 21st, 2007 at 11:04 am
I’m wondering how the second week of performances went. And how did the cast handle the negative audience reactions to the new casting?
October 25th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
It’s definitely not my intention to rain on anyone’s parade because from what I can tell Steppenwolf consistently turns out great performances and I hope they will continue to do so. But what I saw last night was so poor in certain respects, I almost feel like it would be an injustice to those involved in the production if members of the audience did not voice their concern.
Apparently the show has not improved at all over the last week. In some ways it’s comforting to know that others have noticed the same things, I was wondering if it was just me. Mr. Pendleton still gives off the impression that he is drunk during the performance. I believe Ms. Lavey when she says he was not; however, I don’t understand the choices he is making as Judge Danforth. I also don’t understand why a professional actor with as much experience as Mr. Pendleton would still have so much trouble performing in front of a new audience and why he had trouble remembering his lines! To me, his performance was inexcusable…because of his apparent lack of preparation and/or level of discomfort with performing in front of a the audience, he negatively affected EVERY scene he was in. Unfortunately, that is basically the entire second act. I felt sorry for the other actors involved in his scenes.
It takes a LOT for me to want to walk out of a production, but I have to say that multiple times last night, that was my intention. I think if I had been sitting closer to the exits, I would have. Thankfully, for me, Elizabeth redeemed the entire show. Without a doubt, she gave the type of performance I had hoped to see across the board.
Most likely I will still go back to Steppenwolf, but I would hope that there would be more careful consideration in future casting efforts. It obviously was not lack of time that was the issue (being that Elizabeth’s character and Judge Danforth’s character were replaced at the same time). But there was major difficulties in the production that I hope will not happen again.
October 29th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
umm.. was it a Big Surprise that August Osage County went to NY? Possibly not a lightning bolt from above. But was the director maybe not available to Mr. Pendleton to save him from himself (channeling Judge Julius Hoffman, perhaps, to be generous) for his appalling (sp?) performance? I felt like the mother of a kid in the high school play who had not learned his lines - not an experience a person would want to pay for! If I were another actor in this play, I would be livid.
October 30th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
I want to assure you that Anna Shapiro, the director of both The Crucible and August was on-site to rehearse the replacement actors for The Crucible. Anna was available to replacement actors to discuss their roles before the week of rehearsals, all of the actors came into the week of rehearsals fully memorized in their roles, and our stage manager continues her nightly vigilance of the performances.
We are delighted that August has begun its previews on Broadway and that we were able to bring our director, actors, and design team to the production in New York. Our enthusiasm for the Broadway production and what that production does to advance the reputation of your home theater has never mitigated our primary focus on our work in Chicago. It is for you, our loyal Chicago audiences, that Steppenwolf produces its work.
October 30th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Ms. Lavey:
Your responses seem to be political. They don’t respond to the serious critiques regarding Mr. Pendleton. How do you respond to these comments?
October 31st, 2007 at 9:46 am
Take heart—Nov. 18 is just around the corner.
November 5th, 2007 at 12:09 am
I too was disappointed with the performance of that I saw this afternoon. I directed a high school production of “The Crucible” this fall, and because I’d seen the show with the original cast, I was excited to bring my students today. Unfortunately, what they saw today was not the same show I’d seen on October 8. I expected there would be some changes due to the substitutions, but I never imagined the overall quality of the show to plummet the way it did.
The first thing I noticed that was different was the grueling pace of the show. It ran over twenty minutes longer tonight than the first time I’d seen the show! Though the whole cast lacked energy, Mr. Pendleton was himself responsible for numerous inexplicable pauses. Some of these pauses seemed intentional (though I didn’t feel they worked at all), but most were due to dropped/flubbed lines. I know the show by heart, and therefore know the extent of his paraphrasing. For a professional actor to drop lines like that is inexcusable. It did, however, provide material for a rich discussion with my students on how one person’s irresponsibility can compromise an entire show. Danforth IS the second act, and when he’s on shaky ground, the whole thing suffers.
My students performed the show that Arthur Miller wrote; I insisted on it. I would expect that the Steppenwolf would insist on this kind of precision as well. When I’m asking each high school student to pay $50 a ticket, I expect a product that reflects the professional quality they’re paying for.
November 5th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
my God, will people stop picking on austin pendleton already? i didn’t see the production, so i am not speaking as a savant. i am, however, speaking as someone in the performing arts. a good part of the excitement of live theater is not knowing WHAT the hell might happen onstage: someone could forget his lines, suddenly puke, be hit on the head with a sandbag, have a psychotic break and begin clucking like a chicken. and that’s not even factoring in the danger the characters in the play are in. the best actors and actresses bare themselves to this danger, and the better they are, the more likely they can be to trip, to stumble, even to forget their lines. austin pendleton, despite messing up pretty badly from the looks of it, is a great, generous and fascinating actor and the world is lucky to have him. i bet if any disgruntled member of the early audiences came back for a second look, they’d find the situation much improved. it takes time to work one’s way into a part, some more than others, ESPECIALLY when the actor or actress is extremely talented. their talent will not allow them to just toss off any bullshit. have a little tolerance for the process and not such amateurish reverence for the result.
November 7th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
There is no doubt that Mr. Pendleton is a fine actor. His performance in this role clearly continues to be problematic and clearly not to the standards the supporters of Steppenwolf have come to expect. You really should see the perfomance before you try to defend it. Try not to pay for a ticket, though.
November 8th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
if you read my comment more closely, you will see that i was not defending pendleton’s performance. how could i? i didn’t see it, as i revealed in the second sentence. i was trying to remind people who did that sometimes part of seeing a live performance is seeing an actor mess up, due to miscasting, nerves or myriad other mishaps. the great actors like austin pendleton can trip themselves up because they care so much about not fobbing off a slick but superficial performance on an audience. and no matter how professional an actor is, if he has a lick of sense he is deeply frightened whenever he steps onstage. that’s part of the fun. seeing a bad performance is just one of the risks you incur when you buy a ticket to see a play. you have every right to be mad that you didn’t see what you expected to see, but you needn’t view it as a total loss. if nothing else, you’ll learn a little more about the persistence of human frailty, no matter how exalted the trappings. and isn’t that part of what “the crucible” is all about?
November 8th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
p.s. as for paying for a ticket, no chance. i couldn’t pony up the airfare!
November 9th, 2007 at 1:54 am
Hmmm…I have to say, I attended the Crucible this evening (Thursday of the second week with Austin Pendleton, Philip R. Smith, and Rebecca Spence in the production), was aware of some of the issues going in to the show, and was pleasantly surprised. I am an actor, and I know several of the performers in this production, so this may be taken for hollow defense of my fellow performers, but that simply isn’t the case. I found Austin to be genuinely effective, his performance calling to mind the very frightening current president, with his “if you ain’t fer us, yer agin us” disingenuousness. I believe strongly that the people we should fear the most are those in authority who are clearly incompetent and out of control. These things sound like elements of the performance being described, and very much what I was witnessing tonight. Granted, if I had seen the show ealrier than tonight, those thoughts may have been more about the performer than the character, but this is what I saw.
As to the other performances: for one thing, different actors and different minds will have different takes on roles, especially within iconic pieces of theatre such as The Crucible. Those different takes will create different responses in their fellow performers, and some adjustment simply must be made. That can be extremely difficult to accomplish in front of five hundred judgmental audience members with only three rehearsals under their belts, regardless of how well they know their lines. (You all did read that part of Martha Lavey’s initial response: three, count ‘em three rehearsals. In comparison with five six-day weeks of rehearsals for all the other performers with whom they were working.) Secondly, I’m not sure that these criticisms, or ones like them, wouldn’t have been leveled at the original cast members. In fact, I read reviews in which members of the original cast were called “badly mis-cast”. That ends up being a difference of opinion with the director, rather than justification for comparing the work of a professional actor to “community theatre” (which, by the way, is an American cultural institution in its own right, and the source of many of our great theatre artists, including a number of the Steppenwolf ensemble, if I remember correctly, which got its start in a church basement. So let’s not go bashing it either.)
I do not know the script of the Crucible intimately enough to know what lines were paraphrased and which were dropped, but the performance I saw tonight was thought-provoking and engaging, and the performances of the individual actors were variously intriguing, unsettling because of the contemporary resonances, profound, and enlightening. I’m glad I was not too familiar with the script, because it allowed me to experience the living, breathing performance unfolding before me.
I hope that other audience members have the experience I did; I am sorry for those who didn’t. Perhaps reading this blog before seeing the show would help: they would go expecting to see a disaster and end up seeing a good show with actors who semed to me to be at least in control; and if they weren’t, they were certainly able to think on their feet well enough that I wasn’t aware of it.
And I think it problematic that a self-professed patron of any theatre would look forward with glee to the closing of a show at that theatre. Wishing ill on the arts seems redundant in a culture that is slowly trying to destroy them. But then again, if you’re not for them, I guess you have to be against them.
November 9th, 2007 at 11:59 am
I thought Martha Lavey’s comments indicated that the actors had a week of rehearsal. Does that mean 3 rehearsals by some theater standard I don’t know about?
If they did have only 3 rehearsals, that’s certainly indicative of a lack of care on the part of Steppenwolf to preserve their production when the original cast members left.
I saw what I believe was Pendleton’s second performance of his role. My husband and I discussed the possibility that he was deliberately playing Danforth as weak and confused, trying to hide his incompetence behind the authority of his position. So I turned to this blog to see if I could find out more about the conception of the role. What I found was other patrons complaining and Martha Lavey apologizing. Nowhere does Martha Lavey say that Pendelton was playing the role as conceived by the director, thus explaining some of the meandering and stumbling that some people interpreted as the results of drinking.
For what it’s worth, I’m a long term Steppenwolf subscriber (over 20 years with an occasional break) and I’m certainly not going to base my opinion of the company on one problematic performance.
November 9th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
The three rehearsals for the replacements happened during a regular performance week. Monday is the required Equity day off, the new actors couldn’t be on the stage on Wednesday due to the regularly scheduled matinee, and they went into the show for all four shows on Saturday and Sunday. That leaves Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday for rehearsals.
November 12th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Thom—
If being a subscriber and financial supporter of Steppenwolf qualifies me as “a self-professed patron”–I stand gulity as charged. As for looking forward with glee, you have misinterpreted my comment. Closing will be sad, sort of like when Old Yeller gets shot.