… Then as the play goes on, especially in Act Two … fluorescent lights come down.
“In the Proctor house, there’s a metal stove that never would have existed in that time. Parris’ house, (where) there’s a bed that’s anachronistic, made of steel instead of wood,” Zampelli said. While the setting is reflected in traditional costumes, the set evolves toward the present. “(Director) Eleanor Holdridge … really wanted to promote the idea of the women in this play and how they interact in this patriarchal, puritanical world,” Genebach said. Such marital drama is fascinating to examine through a modern lens, especially when you consider that 14 of the 20 people executed during the Salem Witch Trials were women. The girl who she dismissed for sleeping with her husband is now going around accusing people of being a witch and she knows she’s at the top of her list.” … Her husband has cheated on her with a 17-year-old in a barn. “Elizabeth (is) not used to communicating about feelings. “You couldn’t ask for a better arc,” Zampelli said. Then he comes back attempting to recover his own goodness and he finds that through Elizabeth.” “The first act is him trying to repair the relationship (and) in the second act, you see the disillusion of his belief in humanity and God. “John Proctor considers himself an upright, good Christian man … but he’s living with this sin, so he’s a tortured soul,” Genebach said. These wild accusations not only have macro political implications, they also expose personal secrets in town, such as John Proctor (Genebach) cheating on his wife Elizabeth (Zampelli). All of a sudden, facts aren’t facts to you anymore because they’re not the facts you want to believe.” “You see his accusations and you see him press for the truth that he wants to hear and not what the actual truth is,” Genebach said. “Lies beget lies, and as it starts to fly forward, you believe the truth that you want to believe - regardless of the facts presented to you. The character most representing Senator Joseph McCarthy is Deputy Governor Danforth. I have no tongue for it,’ which is something very akin to what Arthur Miller said in front of the commission.” “He had to answer to the House Un-American Activities Committee … One of the lines that Proctor utters is, ‘I speak my own sins, I cannot judge another. “He was one of the people that was called and accused of being a communist,” Genebach said. The allegory was personal for Miller, who was himself accused of being a communist. “This is a parable from the McCarthy era, which was a time of paranoia and accusations in an attempt to discredit people or ruin them for other people’s own gain,” Genebach said. Miller initially penned the play as a parable for McCarthyist paranoia in the 1950s.
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