Even though the Salem witch trials took place in Salem, Massachusetts, over 300 hundred years ago, Portage High School has brought it back to life in the drama tragedy, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller.
Winning this year’s leads were Hunter Martinko, landing the role of John Proctor, and Kate Martin, capturing the woman’s lead role of Abigail Williams. Other leading roles were represented by Matthew Kiley, Lydia Gerike, and Sara Dailey.
“I did not really know the story before I became involved in the play, so I did not know what to expect, but as the final pieces came together, I was impressed with the whole story, Arthur Miller, and even how a group of high school kids could honor this masterpiece so well,” Gerike said.
According to Dailey, the director, Kevin Giese, could not have picked a better cast.
“Everyone is so talented, I honestly do not think Giese could have done a better job in any way,” Dailey said. “It doesn’t even feel like we’re in high school because of how talented some of the cast members are."
In the spring, PHS chose Legally Blonde as its musical, bringing its peppiness with it and then having to go to a gloomy production is something that proved to be more than an average theater move, according to Anabelle Tokash, who had parts in both Legally Blonde and The Crucible.
“To go from Legally Blonde, which was really hyped up and energizing, to something gloomy like The Crucible is just amazing that we pulled something like this off,” Tokash said.
The cast were not the only ones who had been working their butts off though.
Hair and make-up captain Emilee Laux, Co-captain Lily Someson, and holder of the fort Jonsi Maceo know that the play would not a success without the help from the tech team.
“We had an amazing tech team this year,” Laux said. “As small as they are, they are the fastest they have been in a long time. All of the techies are sweet and are amazing; it makes everything so much easier.”
Throughout the whole theater department at PHS, they know that they are truly one of a kind throughout the schools surrounding them.
“We always say we don’t do high school theater and we really don’t. It’d be crazy to find another high school in our area that could pull off productions like PHS does. When we do a production, we put so much time into a show and Giese is not a soft director,” Dailey said. “We get it done and we get it done to the high level he wants it to be.
Click here to view more photos from the play!