Additionally, Hay will include a scene in the production that is rarely performed.

“Miller took it out for reasons I’m not entirely sure of,” Hay said. “I think it adds a crucial element.”

In the scene, Abigail—the character who instigates the witchcraft trials by accusing villagers of practicing black magic—vows to make the world “white once more,” according to Hay.

Although the cast does contain some people of color, Hay said he had hoped to have a more racially diverse band of actors. Nevertheless, Hay said, “We’re doing everything we can to use lights and sound and acting talent to enact a very electrifying production.”

GETTING INTO CHARACTER

The 27-member cast is composed predominately of HLS students but also includes some undergraduates. “The script calls for about 20 [people], but I’ve added to the number of girls who accuse people of witchcraft because the number in real life was actually much larger than the number Arthur Miller used,” Hay said.

During a break in rehearsal last week, Joseph A. Nuccio ’00, a third-year HLS student who plays Reverend Parris, the local minister in Salem, recounted between bites of pizza what had happened in the scene he had just performed.

“The person who was lying on the bed was playing the part of my daughter who is comatose and won’t wake up and we don’t know why,” said Nuccio, who was actively involved in theater as an undergraduate, starring in Voltaire’s Candide and a number of other shows. “At the end of the act it’s revealed that she was bewitched and the girl who was crying out about working for Satan and seeing other witches is my servant, Tituba, and soon after all that my niece Abigail will then do the same thing and start naming all these names of people they saw with Satan, who will end up being hung.”

“Mass hysteria,” he quipped.

Throughout the rehearsal, Hay intermittently mouthed the words of the script as the actors spoke them.

While it is still early in the rehearsal process, Nuccio said he was happy with the progress. “I think we’re moving along at a good clip, and [Hay] seems to be working very hard,” he said.

In order to prepare Ames Courtroom, the site of moot court competitions and other court proceedings, for the April 20 opening, Hay has undertaken the task of rewiring the 300-seat auditorium to accommodate stage lights.

Nuccio commended Hay, saying that it would “help very much for future shows at the Law School.”

Chris N. Hanley ’07 is playing the role of John Proctor, a farmer who becomes entangled in the court proceedings when his wife is accused of being a witch and it is revealed that he committed adultery.

Hanley, who performed in Noises Off last semester and auditioned through Common Casting for The Crucible, said it is his favorite show.