"The Crucible" Stage Play Casting Men and Women

A farmer in Salem, Proctor serves as the voice of reason and justice. He exposes the girls as frauds pretending that witchcraft exists, becoming the tragic hero of the tale. Proctor is a sharply intelligent man who can easily detect foolishness in others & reveal it, but he questions his own moral sense. Due to his affair with Abigail Williams, Proctor wonders whether he is a moral man; however, this past event is the only major flaw attributed to him, as he is otherwise honorable and ethical.

The wife of John Proctor, Elizabeth shares with him a similarly strict adherence to justice and moral principles. She is a woman who possesses great confidence in her own morality and in a person’s ability to maintain a sense of righteousness, both internal and external, even when these principles conflict with strict Christian doctrine. Although she is regarded as a woman of unimpeachable honesty, it is this reputation that causes her husband to be condemned when she lies about his affair.

A 17-year-old girl & the niece of Reverend Parris, Abigail was the Proctors’ servant until Elizabeth fired her for having an affair with John. She is a malicious, vengeful girl who, to protect herself from punishment after Reverend Parris discovers them dancing, instigates the Salem witch trials & spearheads the accusations. Despite her claims, Abigail is an unabashed liar who accuses those who oppose her of witchcraft, including Elizabeth Proctor, in a bid to take her place as Proctor’s wife.

The deputy governor of Massachusetts who presides over the Salem witch trials. He is a stern yet practical man, more interested in preserving the dignity and stature of the court than in executing justice or behaving with any sense of fairness. He approaches the witchcraft trials with a strict adherence to rules and laws that obscure any sense of rationality, for under his legal dictates, an accusation of witchery automatically entails a conviction.

A weak, paranoid, and suspicious demagogue, Parris instigates the witchcraft panic when he discovers his daughter and niece dancing in the woods with several other girls. Parris is continually beset by fears that others conspire against him. He knows the truth that Abigail is lying about the dancing and the witchcraft but perpetuates the deception since it serves his own self-interest. Parris perceives any defense against the charges of witchcraft as an attack upon the court.

A scholar from Beverly, Reverend Hale arrives in Salem at Reverend Parris’ request to investigate the supernatural causes of Betty Parris’ suspicious illness, thus instigating the rumors of witchcraft. Hale approaches the situation precisely and intellectually, believing he can define the supernatural in definitive terms. Despite his early enthusiasm for identifying the presence of witchcraft in Salem, Hale soon becomes disillusioned with the rampant accusations.

An irascible and combative old resident of Salem, Giles Corey is a comic figure in The Crucible whose fate turns tragic when he unwittingly brings about his wife’s charge of witchcraft by wondering aloud about the strange books she reads at night. Corey is a frequent plaintiff in court, having filed dozens of lawsuits, and he stands with Proctor in challenging the girls’ accusations, believing that Thomas Putnam is using witchcraft charges to secure land.

The servant in the Proctor household, Mary is one of the girls found dancing in the woods and is complicit in Abigail Williams’ schemes. Although weak and tentative, she challenges the Proctors when they forbid her to go to court. However, Mary eventually breaks down and testifies against Abigail, until Abigail charges her with witchery. She is a pliable girl whose actions are easily determined by others.

Black, indigenous, or person of color. Parris’ slave from Barbados, Tituba was with the girls when they danced and attempted to conjure the spirits of Ann Putnam’s dead children. She is the first person accused of witchcraft and also the first to accuse others of witchery, particularly when she discovers that the easiest way to spare herself is to admit to the charges, regardless of their truth.

One of the wealthiest landowners in Salem, Thomas Putnam is a vindictive and bitter man who holds longstanding grudges against many citizens of Salem, including the Nurse family for blocking the appointment of his brother-in-law as minister. Putnam urges his daughter to accuse George Jacobs of witchcraft, since if he is executed, his land will be available for Putnam to buy.

As one of Salem’s most noble and well-respected citizens, this elderly woman is kind and sane, suggesting that Betty’s illness is merely a product of being out too late in the cold. However, because she served as midwife to Mrs. Putnam, Rebecca Nurse is charged with the supernatural murder of Putnam’s children, each of whom was stillborn. In the play, Rebecca Nurse is the clear martyr, the purest and most saintly character hanged for witchery.

The judge presiding over the Salem witch trials remains largely subservient to Deputy Governor Danforth but applies the same tortured reasoning to the charges of witchcraft.

The husband of Rebecca Nurse and a well-respected, wealthy landowner in Salem, Francis Nurse joins Giles Corey and John Proctor in their challenge against the court when their respective wives are charged with witchcraft.

Requires strong physicality. The young teenage daughter of Reverend Parris, Betty, falls mysteriously ill after he discovers her dancing in the woods with Abigail and the other young women of Salem. She slips into hysterics when the charges of witchcraft first emerge, holding delusions that she can fly and exclaiming with horror upon hearing the name of Jesus.

One of the first women charged with witchcraft by the girls, she is a homeless woman who confesses to witchcraft to save herself and continues the charade with Tituba, comically claiming that Satan will take her and Tituba to Barbados.

Voice only, to be cast during rehearsals. Giles Corey’s third wife. Martha’s reading habits lead to her arrest and conviction for witchcraft. Only her voice is heard from offstage as she testifies before the court.

A clerk of the court who serves the arrest warrants to the persons charged with witchcraft.

The wife of Thomas suspects that there is a supernatural cause behind the stillborn deaths of seven of her children and holds Rebecca Nurse responsible.

The Putnam’s servant is a fat, sly, merciless 18-year-old girl whom Parris found naked when he spied on the girls dancing in the woods. She runs away with Abigail at the end of the play.

One of the girls whom Parris found dancing in the woods is a confidant of Abigail.

A shopkeeper and the marshal of Salem who guards the jail cells while nearly drunk.

One of Herrick’s deputies until he refuses to carry out any further arrests, at which point he is charged with witchcraft and hanged.

One of the guards at the jail cell.

Six ensemble women who are part of the group led by Abigail Williams.