A #TCTheater company so new they don't even have a website or an Instagram page, Hang Fire Productions is making their debut with the classic play
The Crucible. I'm not sure which came first, the company name or this production, but "Hang Fire" is certainly an appropriate name for a troupe tackling this dramatization of the
Salem witch trials in late 17th Century Massachusetts, in which a firestorm of fear and accusations resulted in the hanging of 19 innocent people. More than 300 years after the events depicted and 70 years since Arthur Miller wrote the play in response to
McCarthyism, the themes of religious fanaticism, mob mentality, the miscarriage of justice, and scapegoating are still relevant. If anything, with the anonymity and viral nature of the internet, it's almost easier for this kind of thing to happen. Hang Fire Productions, formed from some of the artists involved in the now defunct
Mission Theatre, makes a promising debut with this strong production. Their short two-weekend run concludes this weekend at the Historic Mounds Theatre* (
click here for info and tickets).
