The Lake Braddock Theatre will present three productions and co-produce a fourth that exemplifies the spirit of 20th century American Theatre. The American productions will culminate with Lake Braddock Theatre's performance at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland in August 2003. The Lake Braddock Theatre 29th season includes productions of Arthur Miller's dramatic American tragedy "The Crucible," the classic generation-clashing American musical "Bye Bye Birdie," A. R. Gurney's ode to ancient American tradition of letter writing "Love Letters," and Shirley Lauro's dramatization of six women's experiences in Vietnam entitled "A Piece of My Heart."
In April 2002, The Lake Braddock Theatre was invited to perform at 2003 The American High School Theatre Festival (AHSTF). AHSTF runs in conjunction with the Fringe Festival — the world's largest performing arts festival. Thousands of actors, directors, writers, producers and other artisans, as well as hundreds of thousands of theatergoers converge in Edinburgh, Scotland each August for the Fringe Festival. Every year, the AHSTF invites top nominated highs school programs to apply for a spot in the festival. A small percentage of those invited high school programs are selected based on their most recent bodies of works, honors and awards, technical ability, community involvement, philosophies and recommendations. AHSTF selected The Lake Braddock Theatre for the 2003 festival on the theater's first application.
The Lake Braddock Theatre will travel with "A Piece of My Heart" in August 2003, but it is the its current production, "The Crucible" that has focused the attention of the thespians this fall. Arthur Miller's masterpiece was first produced in 1953, a time when America was convulsed by an epidemic of witch hunting similar to that of the play's setting.
The story takes place in 1692, Salem, Mass., in a rigid, theocratic society. Miller takes dramatic license with historical figures that spur the witch hunting fervor of the time period. John Proctor (played by junior Zach Waldman) is a flawed Puritan Everyman who must prove his wife Elizabeth's (played by senior Lauren Kidd) innocence of witchcraft. A tragic central figure, Proctor must reveal his darkest secret in order to counter the accusations of his love-spurned chief antagonist Abigail Williams (played by Kat Purgal). An American tragedy, "The Crucible" features some of the very legal ills that the Bill of Rights was created by the Founding Fathers to correct.
The Lake Braddock Theatre production of Miller's "The Crucible" is stage managed by senior Sean Pollin and will be presented Thursday, Nov. 21, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, Nov. 22, at 8 p.m., and Saturday, Nov. 23, at 2:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. All seats are $7 presale/$8 at the door. Tickets can be reserved beginning Monday, Nov. 11 by calling the following phone numbers: 703-426-1070 for Information only and 703-455-1762 to reserve tickets on an answering machine or send an email to www.lbttickets.com. For information check our website at www.lbtheatre.com.
All ticket sales for "The Crucible," as well as "Love Letters," "A Piece of My Heart," and a portion of the co-produced "Bye Bye Birdie" will go to help with costs for The Lake Braddock Theatre trip to Edinburgh.