Skip to main content
Wednesday, November 11, 2026Nov 11
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

Back Alley Productions presents ‘The Crucible’

From left are Zoe Kokotek, Alyssa Whitesell and Shania Kennett, who play young girls in the village of Salem who send the community spiraling into darkness through childish finger-pointing.
From left are Zoe Kokotek, Alyssa Whitesell and Shania Kennett, who play young girls in the village of Salem who send the community spiraling into darkness through childish finger-pointing. From left are Zoe Kokotek, Alyssa Whitesell and Shania Kennett, who play young girls in the village of Salem who send the community spiraling into darkness through childish finger-pointing.

By Staff Report 3 min read

If you go

› What: “The Crucible”› Where: Mars Theatre, 117 N. Chattanooga St., LaFayette, Ga.› When: 7:30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, Nov. 10-11 and 17-18; 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 19› Admission: $15 and $12› For more information: www.BAPshows.com

photo Alex Walker as John Proctor and Alyssa Whitesell as the dangerous Abigail Williams, who seduces Proctor and sets out on a destructive path of manipulation and lies.

Back Alley Productions will open Arthur Miller’s legacy drama, “The Crucible,” on Friday, Nov. 10, with five performances at the Mars Theatre in LaFayette, Ga., through Sunday, Nov. 18.

“The Crucible” is set during the Salem witch trials, a dark period in American history when ordinary citizens were tortured and even killed for being accused of witchcraft. Miller used the guilty-until-proven-innocent mentality of Salem as an examination of his own experiences with the McCarthy hearings during the 1950s. In was then that several prominent Americans, including Miller, were accused of national treason and linked to Soviet communism, with little or no evidence.

This production will forgo traditional 17th-century Salem for the 1950s’ look and feel that Miller was familiar with, all in order to bring the metaphor of the Red Scare to the forefront, while drawing comparisons to our modern world.

photo Landon Carpenter plays Rev. Hale, who arrives in Salem to try and save its spirituality from dying during the witch trials.

“‘The Crucible’ is such a powerful show and I’m glad to have such a talented cast to put it on,” says Joseph Henry Watts, who is making his directorial debut with Back Alley Productions.