The Death of Arthur Miller

A man who played a part of my youth passed away last week. It was playwrite Arthur Miller. Maybe his most famous play was "Death of a Salesman". But the one that's most important to me was "The Crucible".

When I was a senior in High School (Go Valley Vikings!!!) I needed an Arts and Letters credit. I decided that Theater One would be an easy "A", and honestly, it really was. But that's not the important part of the story. The fall play was going to be "The Crucible". It's an amazing play about the craziness of the Salem Witch Trials. I was approached by the Play Director, Mrs. Cacioppo, about trying out. Well, I was one of the captains of the Footbal Team (Go Vikings!), a Student Body Treasurer, and all around TRYING to be Stud! So the thought of being a thespian REALLY wasn't a good one. But I decided that if I was going to take the time, and possibly the ridicule of doing it, I would only go after the lead, the part of John Proctor. To my surprise, I beat out several Theater 5 geeks (not to mention to flaming homosexual aspiring actors) and got the part!

This experience was SUCH a great experience for me. I really learned so much. First of all, I really got into the part. I learned so much about the Salem Witch Trials, the part of John Proctor, and about the acting community. I probably wasn't that good in the part, but did okay. I got to do an on-stage kiss with my "wife" Elizabeth Proctor. It was really a pretty funny experience. I can see already I'm going to have to write another blog about my play experiences and the now famous "Lemon Starburst" affair!

I gained such respect and love for Arthur Miller. It was so fun to then read other of his plays. I've followed his career and life. It's pretty cool that he married Marilyn Monroe for a while. Any guy would be pretty proud to say that!

I am a better person for my experience playing the role that he wrote and I thank him and pay tribute to him for that.

Thanks Arthur!