The New World School of the Arts college theater students give way to the school’s theater season with the poignant drama The Crucible, by American playwright Arthur Miller. Under the direction of NWSA faculty member James Randolph for the second time in the history of New World School of the Arts’ theater program, the play will highlight the artistic talent of the college junior and senior theater students. “I first directed this play 22 years ago. I did it then because it was a great story and had great opportunities for the young actors that I was working with to explore, discover, and develop their capabilities. The same is true today, but the world is in a different place than in 1999.”
The Crucible opens on Friday, October 8 at 7:30 PM at Louise O. Gerrits Theater. 25 NE 2nd Street, 8th Floor. Follow-up shows are on October 9, 15, 16 at 7:30 and on Sundays, October 10, 17 at 2 PM. Tickets are $12 for general admission and $5 for students and seniors. Information at 305-237-3541. Tickets may be purchased online at nwsa.mdc.edu
The Crucible in part dramatizes the historic account of the Salem Witch Trials, when in 1692, eighteen men and women and two dogs were convicted and hanged in a small village in Eastern Massachusetts, accused of being communists. First performed on Broadway in 1953, the play won the year’s Tony Award for Best Play and was hailed by the New York Times as a “powerful play.”
“The Crucible is one of the great pieces of dramatic literature in the American theater. “It was written at a time where the House Un-American activities committee was at full force working to root out communism as part of the American landscape,” continued director Randolph. “The play reveals the most basic of human conditions; John Proctor’s struggle shows that truth and personal integrity is worth living for – no matter the cost. We must all, at a particular time, face that which is the crucible.”
About NWSA: A Florida center of excellence in the visual and performing arts, NWSA provides a comprehensive program of artistic, creative, and academic development through a curriculum that reflects the rich multicultural state of Florida. With programs accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art, Dance, Music and Theater, NWSA offers four-year BFA and BM college degrees, as well as the high school diploma. Through its rigorous curriculum and conservatory-style teaching NWSA empowers its students to become leaders in the arts. New World School of the Arts was created by the Florida Legislature as a center of excellence in the performing and visual arts. It is an educational partnership of Miami Dade County Public Schools, Miami Dade College, and the University of Florida.
About NWSA’s theater program: The New World School of the Arts theater program is dedicated to the professional training of talented and committed students interested in pursuing a performing career in theater and music theater, offering students an opportunity to work in a hands-on intensive, physically demanding, artistically challenging and exciting environment. Guided by faculty who are professional actors, directors, playwrights and designers, the curriculum is a progressive journey toward the ownership of a personal technique and a comprehensive methodology of working. The faculty guides the student through the discovery and exploration of self, the learning of diverse techniques used in our craft, intensive rehearsal process, and finally the application of this knowledge into dramatic forms and styles in productions. The NWSA College BFA program culminates each year with showcases in Miami and in New York City.