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History is currently in the making, with the first Minot North theater production, The Crucible, solidifying its spot as the first performance in the school’s newly built auditorium. “The main challenge is figuring out how to hang three children”, says Mr. Michels.
Mr. Michels, director of the Spring 2025 play, explains why people should come see the production, saying “Besides the fact it's Minot North's first show, there are amazing actors who can pull off an extremely difficult script. People get to see the cool lights we can do, the new auditorium and our amazing tech people.”
The Minot North auditorium has been recently approved for use by the Jesters, revealing numerous challenges, “There are all kinds of challenges with the new aud. There’s a super complicated sounds and lights system I haven’t even touched the surface on”, explains Mr. Michels. Eleanor Kingsley, senior, mentions how excited she is to use the new auditorium, saying “I’m super excited! I love this stage, it’s so exciting and so big. There are lots of things to learn like the pulleys, and of course the catwalk, that’s always cool.”
Minot North Auditorium, Taken by Athena Buseth
Despite all the difficulties, The Crucible has been making good progress, as Kingsley, who plays Elizabeth Proctor, explains that the next step is to focus more about the characters and less about “words on a page”.
Directing the first Minot North play has been enjoyable by Mr. Michels, as he acknowledges, “It’s always nice to be the first at something”.
The Crucible is a 1953 playwright written by Arthur Miller in the midst of “McCarthyism”, a period of time where Senator Joseph McCarthy initiated hysteria among Americans, accusing hundreds of belonging to the communist party with minimal evidence. Miller wrote The Crucible in order to compare the hysteria of McCarthyism to the Salem witch trials. The allegory is part of the 11th grade language arts curriculum. “I’ve wanted to do it forever”, Mr. Michels explains, “students read it in 11th grade so I just assumed no one wanted to do it, but It was the first on their list. I’ve done it in college and I loved it, the main challenge is figuring out how to hang three children.”
Rehearsals are everyday after school until six, and Saturdays from nine A.M to two. “ We spend lots of time putting stuff together and getting the set built in time. We don't focus on just learning lines but forming characters and relationships. Two characters have to learn to get very close to each other and that's intimidating,” explains Mr. Michels. Kingsley adds, “Theater in general takes a lot of time to come together as a team. It feels scrambled”
The Crucible will hit the stage on February 26th, starting with the matinee during school hours, which is free to all students.
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