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Creating the Role of Elizabeth Proctor Laura Kay Harrell University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

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Creating the Role of Elizabeth Proctor Laura Kay Harrell University of Arkansas, Fayetteville University of Arkansas, Fayetteville ScholarWorks@UARK Theses and Dissertations 8-2011 Forgiven: Creating the Role of Elizabeth Proctor Laura Kay Harrell University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd Part of the Acting Commons Recommended Citation Harrell, Laura Kay, "Forgiven: Creating the Role of Elizabeth Proctor" (2011). Theses and Dissertations. 110. http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/110 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UARK. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UARK. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. 2 FORGIVEN: CREATING THE ROLE OF ELIZABETH PROCTOR 3 FORGIVEN: CREATING THE ROLE OF ELIZABETH PROCTOR A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Drama By Laura Harrell West Texas A&M University Bachelor of Arts, in Musical Theatre 2007 August 2011 University of Arkansas 4 ABSTRACT The following documents my process of creating the role of Elizabeth Proctor in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. It follows the audition process, table work sessions and my own personal and detailed journal entries I kept in rehearsals while creating this role. 5 This thesis is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council Thesis Director: ______________________________________ Amy Herzberg Thesis Committee: ______________________________________ Mavourneen Dwyer ______________________________________ Kate Frank 6 DUPLICATION RELEASE I hereby authorize the University of Arkansas Libraries to duplicate this Thesis when needed for research and/or scholarship. Agreed __________________________________ Laura Harrell 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. AUDITIONS 1 II. PRE-REHEARSALS 2 III. JOURNAL 3 IV. CONCLUSION 22 V. BIBLIOGRAPHY 23 8 I. AUDITIONS The audition process for this production of The Crucible was unlike any other series of auditions I’ve experienced. It began with a high volume return of callbacks from the season’s initial audition which was due to a lack of a stage manager at that time. It was fairly informal, with different pairings of actors taking on bits from scenes. Kate Frank, the director, would then ask for specific scene work as she saw fit. At one point, I was called into the hall to prepare with my partner to read for Anne Putnam, but after spending an hour working the scene, I never got a chance to read for the role before the next set of cuts were made. This was just as well, because it soon became clear that Kate was only considering me for Elizabeth Proctor or Rebecca Nurse. Once the first set of callbacks were done, Patrice Foster and I were the only ones reading for both Elizabeth and Rebecca Nurse while two more actors, Will Grayson and Drew Johnson, went head to head for the roles of John Proctor and Danforth. This callback process was challenging as I found myself competing with my best friend for the role of Elizabeth. At this same time, however, I had a much different kind of challenge from my own personal life. For the month, prior to auditions, I had watched a beloved pet die before my eyes. Our pet passed the morning before we all had another callback session, but Kate expressed great sympathy and helped me when I could barely hold my head up from lack of sleep and the anxiety and sadness that came with losing him. Kate helped me by postponing callbacks that evening for me so that I could take the time necessary to compose myself. My mind was not always in the audition for the next few days, I will admit. But my inner life flowed freely when it came time to imagine Elizabeth losing her beloved husband. Maybe that helped me in the long run, but it was definitely not a “method” I’d like to relive again. Once callbacks were back in swing, there were several nights where I 9 read with both Drew and Will. Between the emotional requirements of the script and the tensions of hoping to get that thesis role, I was more than ready for the cast list to go up, either way. II. PRE-REHEARSALS We started our first “unofficial” rehearsal on September 13th. Our goal was to be seventy five percent off book by our first true rehearsal starting on October 12th. Kate suggested some readings regarding the Salem Witch trials. I opted to purchase The Devil’s Snare by Mary Beth Norton later that week to do some further reading. I found the book very interesting and it included several stories about the real lives of the lesser known characters that appeared in the play, including Sarah Goode and Sarah Osbourne. I would have liked to have had more time to delve into this literature, but as soon as the cast list went up, I had very limited research time as we went head first into rehearsals. At this first meeting, we discussed how important the dialect coaching was going to be, as well as how much practice and discipline it would take for us to really have a cohesive accent as a cast. Kate discussed how she wanted hints of the English dialect from the “West Country” (like those in Devon and Somerset) combined with the use of the so-called “spa a” sound of the British Received Pronunciation dialect. Words like “yard” would sound more like “yah-rd”, with an emphasis on the vowels in the words, but punctuated with a sharpened consonant ending. The goal of this hand-crafted dialect work was to find a clear, rural sounding accent for those of us who were playing the more salt of the earth type characters. 10 III. JOURNAL ENTRIES Monday September 15th This rehearsal was exclusively a table work session with Kate and Will Grayson who is playing John Proctor. We discussed how important Elizabeth is to this play and why she is here. She is the wife of John Proctor, and her illness played a big part in John being driven to have an affair with Abigail. Elizabeth then firing Abigail is the catalyst for Abigail’s accusations. We also took a good look at how other characters regard Elizabeth and which of those adjectives I chose to believe actually fit her. Abigail is the one character who has the nastiest things to say about Elizabeth. She calls her a “cold, sniveling woman”. (Miller, The Crucible 14) She reveals to John that she believes Elizabeth is also “sickly” and “envious”. (Miller, The Crucible 14) I know that these sorts of descriptive words can be detrimental if I focused on giving Abigail a reason to say these things about me. This is a sort of parody of the real person that Abigail has created for herself in order to make sense of why John has not left Elizabeth yet. Reverend Hale accuses Elizabeth of being “stone” and having “no wifely tenderness” once she refuses to convince John to confess to witchcraft. (Miller, The Crucible 43) He cannot understand Elizabeth’s compassion for John not giving in to society, and instead insists that she has no soul if she can stand back and watch her husband be sent to the gallows. John, however, offers the most insight into her soul. John states in court that she “cannot lie”. (Miller, The Crucible 69) He also refers to her as a “good wife” (Miller, The Crucible 68) several times and even goes so far as to say about Elizabeth: “that goodness will not die for me.”(Miller, The Crucible 47) He also reveals her to be a “marvel” when she sees him for the last time. (Miller, The Crucible 84) However, when Elizabeth and John begin to argue about him visiting Abigail, he harshly insists: 11 “an everlasting funeral marches around your heart” and reminds her that “you forget nothing and forgive nothing.” (Miller, The Crucible 30) I use these sentences to inform my inner life of the jealousy that I simply cannot shake. Elizabeth, in Scene 4 opens up her heart to John and tells him that “It needs a cold wife to prompt lechery…” and that she is “so plain, so poorly-made” and that “It were a cold house I kept…” (Miller, The Crucible 86) I use this text to justify John’s adultery by belittling myself in order to later ask for forgiveness. We also discussed the most important major events of the play. The Initiating event takes place in Scene 1, where Betty Parris is found “sick” at her home. This affects me because she is Abigail’s cousin and I know that they are in cahoots with one another. I also know how devious Abigail is and how desperately she wants to be with my husband. The inciting event happens when Tituba and the other young girls are found to have been dabbling in witchcraft. This sets the town abuzz with talk of Tituba manipulating the girls. Tituba then tells Reverend Parris that the reason for the girls’ behavior is because of several women in town who are thought to be witches. Now the name-calling begins. The Central event of the play is when John Proctor tears up his confession in prison. This completely involves me because he is my husband and I know that now he is certain to hang for his decision, but he will save his soul by doing so. The main event of the play is my very last line,”He have his goodness now. God forbid I take that from him.” Miller, The Crucible 91) This is the moment when John finally receives my forgiveness.
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