It was seventh grade. Our school play was “The Crucible.” We examined that book through the lens of acting, understanding it more fully than reading the book. It had a profound influence on me. From Arthur Miller: “In those years, our thought processes were becoming so magical, so paranoid, that to imagine writing a play about this environment was like trying to pick one’s teeth with a ball of wool: I lacked the tools to illuminate miasma. Yet I kept being drawn back to it.”

In this article, the playwright shares the story behind his drama about the Salem witch trials: “Why I Wrote The Crucible,” Arthur Miller, The New Yorker, October 13, 1996.