ACT, 2017
Playwright: Arthur Miller
Director: John Langs
Costumes: Deb Trout
Lights: Geoff Korf
Sound: Sharath Patel
“Brilliant! The best production I’ve seen in months! And, no, that’s not hyperbole…” - Arts Stage
“Langs has guided uniformly powerful performances from his stellar cast, who enact the story against an almost bare stage strewn with wooden chairs and an enormous back wall chalkboard where characters write the names of the accused as they are charged (set design by Matthew Smucker). The actors are in modern dress, reinforcing the idea that this is a drama that could, and does, play out across time.” - Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“Scenic Designer Matthew Smucker has taken a quite sparse and deconstructed view of the stage itself as the walls of the set are repeatedly represented only with chalk outlines drawn by the actors. This lack of set allows for a sense of openness and transparency even in the midst of all the secrets and lies as we constantly see the comings and goings of the actors or even see them just sitting "off-stage" as their fellow actors perform. And that chalk goes on to serve an even more sinister purpose as the actors continue to write the names of the accused witches on the stage and back wall of the theater and with that open and inclusive atmosphere you almost expect them to come into the audience and write some of our names up there too.” - Broadway World
“ACT's production of The Crucible, directed by John Langs is so good that it makes me want to use all the clichéd phrases that PR people like to clip from reviews and paste on billboards and follow-up press releases. "Stirring!" "Thrilling!" "This is most necessary urgent play we need right now more than ever 4 lyfe!" "Before today there was a world where ACT's production of The Crucible didn't exist, and that world was a duller, lonelier place." Have at it, you marketing assholes.” - The Stranger
Production Photo Credits: Chris Bennion and Matthew Smucker