News Article

Gonzaga University Theatre Arts will present Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible” at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday, April 11-14; and at 2 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, April 14-15 in the Russell Theatre in Gonzaga’s Administration Building.

Director Brian Russo, associate professor of theatre arts at Gonzaga, describes “The Crucible” as “a play about the potential for human nobility in the face of an ignoble world.” Russo has created an interactive performance, in which the audience will physically move and “be challenged on multiple levels to fully engage in the production,” Russo hints.

Tickets for the production are available through the Russell Theatre Box Office at (509) 323-6553 and are $6 for students, $8 for GU employees and $10 for adults.

“The Crucible” was inspired by the Red Scare, blacklisting, and the McCarthyism of the 1950s. Miller was investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee, denied a passport and blacklisted.

During the play’s performances, the Russell Theatre lobby will be converted into a space for educational displays with information about Miller, McCarthyism, and the Puritan Salem witch trials created by the show’s researchers, known as dramaturges.

This is Russo’s first year teaching at Gonzaga and his first main stage show. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati and a master’s degree from the University of Arizona. Russo has taught as a Fulbright scholar in Calcutta, India, and as a visiting professor at the University of Lodz in Poland.

For more information, contact Summer Berry, costumer and marketing coordinator for the GU theatre department, at (509) 323-3606 or via e-mail at