The Crucible

By Arthur Miller
Directed by Jake Burbage

We are pleased to announce open auditions for our March 2026 production of The Crucible.

ALL ROLES ARE AVAILABLE

Director: Jake Burbage
Producers: Curt Foxworth & Kate Augustin
Stage Manager: Kailey Fitzgerald

About the Production

At the time of its premiere, Miller’s play served as an allegorical indictment of McCarthy-era, anti-communist paranoia. Our production extends that lineage, drawing a direct line from the mass hysteria of 17th-century Salem to today’s post-truth culture, where conspiracy trumps fact and purity-politics drive outrage; where truth is negotiable and accusation is authority.

The text depicts a world in which fear and the seductive ease of scapegoating become the currency through which power is consolidated, particularly through the centuries-old patriarchal dominance that demands absolute control, invariably to the detriment of women.

Our Crucible aims to use this premise as a launchpad, wherein we’ll examine a society—convinced of and beset by its own righteousness—on the brink of collapse, devouring itself from the inside out. Our goal is to present the play not as a dusty relic of history, but as a mirror held up to an America actively in the throes of a weaponized, moral panic; a frenetic, cautionary tale of a nation inching toward the edge where fear transcends law, doubt becomes treason, and justice curdles into zealotry.

Performances

Dates: March 25-29, 2026

Venue: The Don Evans Black Box Theater
2000 Pennington Rd., Ewing, NJ (located on the campus of The College of New Jersey)

Audition Information

Dates

Saturday, December 13, 2-7pm
Sunday, December 14, 12-5pm

Auditions will take place at The College of New Jersey (2000 Pennington Rd., Ewing, NJ). Specific location on campus to be determined and emailed to you prior to auditions.

Appointments & Preparation

Please fill out this form to sign up for an audition time. Appointments are strongly encouraged, though walk-ins will be seen on an availability basis.

Auditions will consist of readings from the script. Sides will be emailed prior to auditions.

Feel free to contact director Jake Burbage at shakespeare70inc@gmail.com with any questions.

Casting

Seeking 17-20 actors. Please note: All roles are Non-Equity and unpaid.

Reverend Samuel Parris (30s-40s, male-identifying) The epitome of a floundering authority terrified of losing control. Obsessed with respect and reputation, even at the expense of truth. Insecure, desperate, sanctimonious.
Betty Parris (18-25, female-identifying) A child trapped in a pressure cooker of faith, paranoia, and patriarchal control. Her body becomes the battleground upon which the first shots are fired in the war against truth.
Tituba (20s-50s, female-identifying, BIPOC) Imprisoned within a system engineered to condemn her simply for existing, she survives by way of performative submission to power. Does her utmost to hold onto her agency until it’s torn from her.
Abigail Williams (18-25, female-identifying) Too often and too easily considered nothing more than the villain of the story. She is a child with her back against the wall and no one in her corner, who resorts to weaponizing her own trauma as a means of survival. Admirable, terrified, and dangerous all at once.
Susanna Walcott (18-25, female-identifying) Longs to be accepted and too frightened to question the rising tide in which she’s swept up, though smart enough to see it for what is is. Eager to please, innocent, aware.
Ann Putnam (30s-50s, female-identifying) One half of a unit defined by entitlement, bitterness, and vindictiveness. Always the first to point the finger, even if she doesn’t know (or care) at whom she’s pointing.
Thomas Putnam (40s-50s, male-identifying) The other half of the Putnam paranoia delegation. Vendetta masquerading as virtue. The neighbor you pray will move away.
Mercy Lewis (18-25, female-identifying) Caught up in what she doesn’t understand. Opportunistic, sharp, intimidating.
Mary Warren (18-25, female-identifying) Another child with her back against the wall. Desperate for belonging and acceptance, ultimately undone by a pressure greater than what she can bear. Impressionable, fearful, fragile.
John Proctor (30s-40s, male-identifying) Defined by his fallibility, despite his best heroic efforts. A two-wolves war of integrity vs. desire, personified. The collision of pride, guilt, honesty, and fury make for a man as uncertain about the crumbling world he lives in as he is about himself.
Rebecca Nurse (50s-70s, female-identifying) Perhaps a ray of light in a world that’s forgotten anything other than the dark. A martyr of reason; an emissary of integrity.
Giles Corey (50s-70s, male-identifying) Bulldog of a man. Stubborn refusal to surrender himself at the expense of his own salvation. “Death before dishonor” machismo bullshit.
Reverend John Hale (20s-50s, male-identifying) An upholder of truth in the face of a machine intent on tearing it down, until he realizes he’s the one who helped build it. Marked by crises of faith, confidence, and identity.
Elizabeth Proctor (30s-40s, female-identifying) Forged by fire and fueled by self-preservation. Though she’ll never not be at odds with the man she loves and what he’s done to her, she’ll never let that be the thing to define her. Virtuous, resilient, cold (albeit rightfully so).
Francis Nurse (50s-70s, male-identifying) A voice of reason when the definition of reason has gone out the window. He is dignity under siege. Defined by his integrity, rationality, and gentleness.
Ezekiel Cheever (20s-50s, male-identifying) Bureaucrat of hysteria. A cog in the machine.
Marshal Herrick (20s-60s, male-identifying) Another cog. Carries out harm without question, simply because the system told him to.
Judge Hathorne (40s-60s, male-identifying) Wields petty power as a way of shielding his own lack of understanding what is right. Cruel, vain, unflinchingly rigid.
Dep. Gov. Danforth (40s-60s, male-identifying) The embodiment of power high on its own self-righteousness as a means of masking their own ineptitude. Feasts on the disenfranchisement of anyone that stands in his way of holding on to authority. Performative purity, authoritarian certainty.
Sarah Good (18-25, female-identifying) Marginalized and condemned before she’s even given a chance to speak. Her poverty and misfortunate are villainized; her societally-induced madness scapegoated as witchcraft.

S70 strives to foster an environment of diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism in all productions. Roles are open to actors of all races, gender identities, sexual orientations, body types, ages (18+), and abilities.

Rehearsal
Information

About Rehearsals

All rehearsals will take place on the campus of The College of New Jersey in Ewing, NJ (specific buildings and rooms to be determined).

The table read will take place in mid-to-late January, with rehearsals beginning shortly thereafter in early February. We will rehearse 1-2 nights during the week and one weekend day, then with greater frequency within 3-4 weeks of opening. Our goal, as always, is to be judicious with and respectful of everyone’s time. To that end, actors’ calls may be staggered across a given rehearsal’s duration so as the maximize efficiency.

Please let us know about ALL potential conflicts between January, February, and March 2026.

Auditions