Longstreet Theatre will be home to lying, hysteria and deceit this week as USC's theatre department prepares for its main stage production of "The Crucible." Undergraduate students as well as guest actors — alumni from the university — will perform the show from Feb. 2 through Feb. 10 under the direction of Robert Richmond.
Richmond sees the show as timeless in its relevance and its social commentary.
"Here we are living in an age of accusation and fake news and this play is only about false accusations and fake news, and how the smallest of rumors can snowball into something that destroys and entire village," Richmond said.
As for the cast, the excitement of the show is in the performance itself.
Olivia Hensley, a first-year theatre student, and William Hollerung, a first-year theatre and visual communications student, are among the few actors starring in their first main stage show. The two were cast together in "Black Comedy" last fall and now get to work together again in "The Crucible."
"It was really exciting being freshman, being able to be cast in our first main stage show that quickly," Hollerung said.
In the show Hensley plays Susanna Walcott and Hollerung plays Marshal Herrick. Hollerung is also Thomas Putnam's understudy, a role played by USC alumnus Terrance Henderson.
Both Hensley and Hollerung are figuring out the transition from high school theater to college theater. Hensley explained that in college, actors have more creative freedom. The director isn't holding your hand every step of the way. It hasn't been a hard transition though — Hollerung dove into a show early on in the fall semester so he wouldn't get bored.
As director of the play, Richmond thought bringing in alumni as guest artists created a positive experience for the undergraduate actors.
"I think that they raise the stakes," Richmond said, "If you want to be a better tennis player, you play with someone that's better than you."
The theatre program has changed a lot since Henderson graduated from USC in 2001. He discussed how USC undergoes so many changes constantly that it doesn't feel the same each time he returns.
“I’ve been here in Columbia since graduating. I’ve started my professional career here in Columbia as well so I’ve been here all this time, but when I come here it’s ... weird, you know, I don’t really get that nostalgic, because it’s so different," Henderson said.
Some things haven't changed though. For one, the physical performance space connects Henderson to his time as an undergraduate here. Henderson's first role at USC was in "Androcles and the Lion" at Longstreet Theatre, where he now prepares for opening night of "The Crucible."
As a student, Henderson also worked with Richmond when he was a guest artist rather than a director.
“Robert was one of the first directors to sort of look at the wholeness of what I brought as a performer and not just my acting but my movement skills, my dance, my musicality and those things and put those things to use for the play," Henderson said.
As for the future of USC's theater department after "The Crucible?" Hensley wants more musicals and Hollerung loves Shakespeare. But Richmond has his own plans for the future of the program.
“I’m hoping in the future we will be able to find a professional company and residence within the theatre department that will be able to sustain and bring people through undergraduate to graduate to professional level."