As the air starts to turn chilly, the Picketwire Center for Performing and Visual Arts will be exploring the chill that can be found in human hearts as presented in the American masterpiece, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Auditions will be held on August 21^st and 23^rd at 7:00 pm at the Picketwire Center, located at 802 San Juan in La Junta. The cast consists of 10 men and 10 women (ages 13+). Those auditioning should expect to read selections from the script which will be provided.

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a uniquely American tale of fear, suspicion and religious extremism that resonates with audiences today perhaps more than at any other time in recent memory. Miller wrote The Crucible not only as a dramatization of the historical events of the Salem witch trials but also as an allegorical examination of the politically inspired Communist “witch hunt” of the 1950s McCarthy era. In the tight-knit, Puritan town of Salem, a group of girls are discovered dancing in the woods and then immediately fall ill. When no earthly cause can be identified, fear and suspicion begin to percolate in the small, isolated community that something larger, more fearsome, and otherworldly may be to blame. Buried secrets and resentments are brought to light, and attempts to root out evil lead to finger-pointing, treachery, and betrayal. When everyone is a suspect, sometimes the most dangerous threat to the community may be the community itself. Join the Puritans in this community as they try to save themselves and their families from…each other.

Performance dates for The Crucible are set for October 17^th, 18^th, and 19^th at 7:30 pm. For more information, visit picketwireplayers.org or call 384-8320.