The Rising Sun Performance Company's mission to provide a home for non-Equity artists is noble, but its production of The Crucible is a trial for all but family and friends. Arthur Miller's drama about the Salem witch hunt, a metaphor for the McCarthy hearings, has a large cast and is a popular choice among amateur groups, but it is not actor- or director-proof.
Director Melissa Attebery demonstrates no guiding vision for this play; the poster's intriguing naked man with a pentangle on his forehead has no relevance to the production. A screen displays projections and shadow play (set design by Jeremy Rosenstein), which amounts to dizzying shadows that grow larger as people exit (since shadows increase in size the further an object gets from a light source). The cast wears nondescript black clothing that looks like it was brought from home (costume design by Katherine Stebbins). And who is to blame for the scene in which the four teenage accusers, summoned to answer Mary's confession, appear in low-cut dresses and thigh-high stockings to demonstrate their insolence? It's snortably silly. Moreover, turning the thrilling end of the first scene into a happy revival meeting doesn't work. We're supposed to be frightened by the hysteria, not laughing hysterically.
Jenn Schatz as Mary Warren, Nic Mevoli as the Rev. Hale, and Elizabeth Burke as Elizabeth Proctor are talented but inconsistent. As John Proctor, Brian Trybom is huffy and little else. Without Miller's tormented moral center, the play flounders. Whether motivated by actor or director, reducing the simmering lust and anger of John and Abigail to a grope-fest is embarrassing. Energetic Kelly Scanlon plays Abigail as if she's auditioning for Mean Girls 2. Miller's archaic language is as tricky as verse; with contemporary sarcastic inflections, it is laughable. His exciting story demands nuance as well, something entirely lacking in this production.
Presented by Horse Trade Theater Group
at the Kraine Theater, 85 E. Fourth St., NYC.
May 11-21. Thu.-Sat., 7 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.
(212) 868-4444 or www.smarttix.com.