The theater department switched things up this year by seating the audience on stage for its production of The Crucible.
This change helped the audience to get completely involved in the show by having the actors performing only inches away from them.

The new seating added to the intensity of The Crucible because the audience could see the and made a really enjoyable atmosphere for the audience to be a part of.

Sophomore actor Erin Kaliszak thinks the show was a huge success.

“We sold out three out of our four shows which was a really big deal,” said Kaliszak. “I think the show went very well, and we had some really great audiences.”

With the new set up, the actors had to take more things into consideration since the audience was so close to them.

Sophomore Lucas Sherman describes his thought process while he was performing.

“One of the most important things was to make sure my back wasn’t facing the same people the whole time, I had to keep moving around,” said Sherman. “I had to make sure I was doing something constantly so there was always something for the audience to watch. We also didn’t have to be as overly dramatic since the audience is so much closer.”

For the audience, being up close made the performance more enjoyable since they could see exactly what was going on.

For the actors however, there seemed to be an added pressure to make sure everything went perfectly.

Senior Rachel Pugaczewski thought the close proximity made it slightly more difficult.

“It made it more difficult to focus on the scene since the audience was so close,” said Pugaczewski. “I started to get used to it, but it was difficult to be involved in the scene at first.”

Although challenging, The Crucible was a huge success for the theater department that displayed the talent of all the students involved.

Be sure to look out for their production of Pippin in the spring.