Casting Update: Community Players' ALL MY SONS

When Arthur Miller's All My Sons, a fierce family drama about fathers and sons and the failed promises of the American Dream, takes the stage at Community Players later this month, veteran actor Dave Lemmon will lead the cast as Joe Keller, a partner in a factory that sent defective parts to aircraft used in America's war effort during World War II. When 21 pilots died as a result of those cracked cylinder heads, Joe's partner at the factory, a man named Steve Deever, took the fall, while Joe walked away, publicly exonerated. But now Joe's chickens are coming home to roost, as his son Chris is engaged to Deever's daughter, and the truth about what really happened can no longer be hidden.

Miller deals with issues of honor, loyalty, money, truth, lies and family, with plot threads involving Joe's wife Kate, who refuses to believe that their other son, Larry, who has been MIA for three years and was once romantically involved with Ann Deever, is really gone; Ann's brother George, who thinks that Joe is guilty and doesn't want his sister involved with a Keller; as well as how much we're willing to lose in the name of prosperity and affluence.

For director Bruce Parrish, Lemmon will play the head of the Keller family at Community Players, with Darlene Lloyd as Kate Keller and Len Childers as son Chris. On the other side of the airplane parts scandal, Rachel Houska will play Ann Deever and Nick Benson will play her brother George.

In the 1947 Broadway production, Ed Begley played Joe, with Arthur Kennedy as Chris and Karl Malden as George, but it was director Elia Kazan who took home the Tony, along with one for playwright Arthur Miller for Best Play. In the most recent revival in 2008, John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest and Patrick Wilson formed the Keller family, with Katie Holmes in her Broadway debut as Ann.

All My Sons opens with a preview performance at Community Players on Thursday, August 31, followed by evening performances on September 1, 2, 8 and 9, and Sunday matinees on the 3rd and the 10th. For more information or to purchase tickets, click here to visit Players' All My Sons page.

Arthur Miller's THE CRUCIBLE Opens at Community Players Tomorrow

Arthur Kennedy, Farley Granger, Robert Foxworth, Martin Sheen, Liam Neeson... And this year, British actor Ben Whishaw. What do they have in common? They've all played John Proctor, the flawed but deeply principled man at the heart of Arthur Miller's The Crucible on Broadway.

Miller's play puts Proctor and his wife Elizabeth in the crosshairs of the Salem witch trials. During a time when they were having marital difficulties, John Proctor had a sexual relationship with a young woman, a 17-year-old named Abigail, who worked as a servant in their house. When his wife suspected the infidelity, she sent the girl away, and now John is wracked with guilt, even as spurned Abigail plots a dangerous course. With a group of impressionable teen girls under her thumb, Abigail concocts a potent story of witchcraft and devil worship that sweeps through their strict Puritan town like a virus, infecting more and more people and spiraling ever more out of control. Before long, both John and Elizabeth Proctor are accused of making deals with the devil, and they must individually decide whether to confess falsely and live, or hold onto their principles and die.

Proctor is a great role for an actor, which explains why actors like Martin Sheen and Liam Neeson were drawn to it, along with Daniel Day-Lewis in the 1996 movie version of the play. Still, in the original Broadway production, it was Beatrice Straight as Elizabeth who walked away with the Tony Award.

Community Players opens their production of this American classic tomorrow night with a preview performance before its official opening night on Friday. The Crucible will play till January 24, with all weeknight performances at 7:30 pm and two Sunday matinees at 2:30 pm.

For Community Players, Samuel James Willis has the coveted role of John Proctor, with Hannah Artman as his wife Elizabeth and Vicky Snyder as Abigail. Tom Smith and Brian Artman appear as Reverends Parrish and Hale, the two ministers who begin the inquiry, while George Freeman and Nathan Bottorff-Gaik play the judges who won't let go once they are in charge. Cassandra Conklin, Cassie Greene, Trisha Bagby and Angela Throckmartin play the passel of teenagers who fly into fits and fantasies; Fania Bourn takes on the role of Tituba, the slave from Barbados whose tales first fire the imaginations of the girls; Quinn Biever, Jennifer Maloy and Paul Vellella play accusing witnesses; Drew German plays a friendly presence in the courtroom and the prison; and Joseph Culpepper, Nancy Nickerson, Joe Strupek and Lizzy Selzer are among those most hurt by the accusations. Alexis Godbee and Mikayla Meyers complete the ensemble.

For more information about the Community Players production of The Crucible, click here. To purchase tickets, visit this page.