Barry - I wish I had seen the play! In fact, I have never "seen" the Crucible, I have only read it. My mind has painted some pictures of scenes of your play - very creative. I only found out about 1 month ago that I am a descendant of Rebecca Nurse, as well as Dorothy Faulkner and Abigail Dane, who were also involved in the witch trials. It is all very new to me and I also enjoy the list. Does you theatre leave you no time to research your family tree? Who knows where your branches lead??? Jodie ----- Original Message ----- From: KRIEBEL JR. <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, July 09, 1999 9:45 AM Subject: [SALEM-WITCH-L] A huge thanks > To everyone on the SALEM-WITCH list, > > My name is Barry Kriebel. I am 28 years old, and I subscribed to this > list, not because I have a relative involved in this tragedy, but simply > because of my interest in the subject. I wanted to thank you all for > allowing me to be involved with your lives as you search out answers to > your individual heritage's. > > Three summers ago I had the honor of directing Arthur Miller's THE > CRUCIBLE. Now true, it was not a verbatim account of what happened back > in 1692, and the production staff was aware of that as we researched > more and more, but we had the pleasure of travelling up to Salem/Danvers > to do research for our production. It was a four day trip. > > Of course on the first day, we made the horrible mistake of visiting all > of the tourist traps (because that's what they are) in modern-day Salem > (the wax museums...etc...) and we were extremely disappointed with what > information we were running into. > > There were discrepancies between museums as to who Tituba was...we heard > African American/American Indian...and we then began to realize that all > research on the subject was not cut and dry and we would have to make > some artistic decisions (as I'm sure Arthur Miller did)... > > We found our first ray of hope when we visited the Corwin "witch" House > and reveled in the history there. We caught a glimpse of the way the > people lived (albeit a wealthy judge)...this is the information we were > yearning for - not the puppet shows we saw downtown. > > The next day we visited the sites located in Danvers - the site of the > parsonage - Ingersoll's tavern - Bridget Bishops home - The memorial... > > And the best site of all - The Rebecca Nurse homestead (it was a rainy > day - and how fitting...) The tour guide at Rebecca's home was wonderful > to us and we learned so much. It was truly amazing for us to be able to > step inside a replica of the Meeting House. We were in awe. > > We tried to find the Proctor House, but unfortunatley it was torn down > and we think it was replaced by a Chinese restaurant...We ate there in > honor of John and Elizabeth and have some very funny "cosmic" memories > from that time. You know, cause when you think of John Proctor - you > immediately think....Chinese food, right?? If we were wrong about the > location, someone please correct us...It would most likely make me feel > better - if nothing else. > > We went to the site of what was beleived to be "Gallows Hill" ... Even > if it wasn't it had a creepy feel to it - maybe becasue we wished it to > feel creepy, but I stole some vines off a nearby tree and they decorated > part of the set...hee hee. > > And lastly the very nice gentlemen who showed us the home of Rev. John > Hale. He told us new evidence that cleared teh name of John Hale as an > accuser of Bridget Bishop...We still have the addendum to the book that > was "hot of the presses"... > > I am sure when the tour guides hear, "We're doing a production of the > CRUCIBLE" they must think to thmeselves..."Oh another group coming > through..." but we honestly wanted to learn the truth! We owed it to the > charcters we were showing onstage. > > We took artistic licenses with our production of THE CRUCIBLE following > that trip - We saw the spots in the text where history was "twisted" > through a magic spectacle glass and altered to fit the needs of the > story, but the staff, and myself in particular, were most interested in > being honest and true to the people of Salem. We constantly instilled > that in our cast members - "You are doing honor to the historical figure > you are representing...." There were not any "leads" in our production - > it was simply an ensemble of people putting history on a stage for > public view. > > First of all, we changed the name of the character of Francis Nurse to > Samuel Nurse as we read that he was the one that saved his mother's body > and rowed it down the stream to bury it in secret. I believe we found > out that Francis himself was sick in bed and could not plead for her in > the presence of the court. I hope I am right here and not offending any > family members by my fuzzy memory or three years. The added reason was > that the gentlemen playing the Nurse character was a high school student > and it would have been a major stretch for him to play an old man (for > him, and the audience as well...) > > We also raised the age of Mary Warren to her proper age - the script > says she is a teen-ager and we made her plight stronger in her fight > with John Proctor by having her admit "I am 20, and a woman, however > single..." > > We added a "Greek chorus" of sorts - the ghosts of the accused who > showed up during the trial scene and were on balcony above, looking down > on the action below, lit only by white taper candles. They also stood in > as "trees" and "bushes" during the forest scene accusing Hester as she > sinks deeper and deeper into the ever growing snowball of her own > creation. True Abigail was not the reason that this whole catastrophe > took place, but for modern audiences it was extremely powerful to take > in. > > We toyed with the idea of changing the names of the Judges, but we > thought that may have been to huge of an undertaking... > > To honor the people of Salem we added a Prologue and an epilogue that > set some of the story straight in our eyes and let the audience know > what happened. If anyone is interested I would love to share it with > you. I feel as If I've taken enough of your time discussing a play > script that many ancestors find an abomination in the eyes of their > personal heritage...I found it fascinating - and if this play touched me > in such a way that I continue to research the subject three years later, > it did it's job in honoring your relatives. > > I am very fortunate as I am graduating from Temple University this > coming Spring and the theater department had decided to produce THE > CRUCIBLE. I will hopefully have the honor of playing one of the many > characters I have been researching for the past 3 years. It was very > difficult to put all this away - and now I have the pleasure of reliving > it all again. I have already made plans to come up to Salem for the > conference that was mentioned, running at the Peabody Essex Museum (the > weekend of my birthday Sept. 18th!!!). If anyone is planning on > attending please let me know as I would love to meet up with all of you. > My sister played the role of Betty Parris three years ago, and was > unable to travel when the staff went up three years ago - but I will be > bringing her to all the wonderful sites I found so informative and > sharing them all with her. > > On our trip up to Salem, the staff tried to contact Richard Trask the > day we were leaving to come home, but he was unavailable and swamped at > work that particular day, but he very nicely said if we ever "have any > questions for him he was a phone call away." Hopefully, I will get to > meet him at the Peabody Essex conference as I believe he is a speaker - > he is a celebrity in my eyes, and it would be a great honor to meet him. > His book was an invaluable resource to our production! > > I really enoy it when people post books that they think people would > enjoy to read in reference to this episode in our nations history - I am > already hoping I get my hands on copies of SALEM POSSESSED: Reading the > Witch Trials and the two Drake books metioned yesterday. Can anyone > recommend any others? I hope to act as Dramaturg for Temple's production > as I am armed with a weatlh of knowledge from past research. > > Thanks again, for sharing your lives with me - and I look forward to > reading the rest of the discussion as they relate to the history of > 1692. > > Best wishes to all! > Barry Kriebel in PA > > PS - Sorry this was so long....I just kept writing and writing....(Barry > winces) > >