Austin Shakespeare presents Arthur Miller’s powerful story of the Salem witch trials, The Crucible, as a professional staged reading with costumes and scenic projections at The Long Center’s Rollins Studio Theatre, running September 21 – 24 on Thursday – Saturday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 3 pm.

Director Ann Ciccolella remarked, “This is the perfect time to do The Crucible – when heroism is required in the face of political threats to liberty. Arthur Miller wanted to tell this story apart from the McCarthy trials, which we associate with it. Miller, fascinated by the history of Salem, was inspired to create this tale of the heroism of John Proctor, trapped between his romantic desires and his search for his personal integrity.”

John Proctor, the hero of the story, will be played by Equity actor Brian Coughlin, who was acclaimed as “Oscar Wilde” in Tom Stoppard’s The Invention of Love. His wife will be Helen Merino, who played “Lady Macbeth” in the company’s Free Shakespeare in Zilker Park. Leading the group of adolescent girls who instigate the hysteria will be Regan Goins, new to Austin Shakespeare, who starred as “Blanche DuBois” in Texas State University’s A Streetcar Named Desire. The other girls will be played by alumnae of Austin Shakespeare’s Young Shakespeare program: Georgia McLeland, Rachel Wolff and Hannah Rutt. Longtime St Edward’s University professor Ev Lunning, Jr. will be featured as “Judge Danforth.” Equity actress MJ Vandivier will portray the esteemed elder, “Rebecca Nurse.” Alumni actors of Austin Shakespeare shows are Michael Miller, Nancy Eyermann, Steve Cruz, Toby Minor, Robert Stevens, and Michael Lucus. New to the company is Derek Webster who will bring comic relief as the old “Giles Corey,” as well as a guest artist from New York, Layla Sinclair, who will play the Barbadian “Tituba”.