VALDOSTA – “The Crucible” has always been about more than what it’s about.

Arthur Miller’s play is about the Salem witch trials that took place from 1692-93 in Massachusetts. But Miller penned the Tony Award-winning play in 1953 after he was found in contempt of Congress for refusing to name names when questioned by the House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities in its persecution of people accused of being communists.

So, while “The Crucible” is about 17th century witch hunts in Salem, it’s also about McCarthyism in the 1950s.

The play has been allegorically connected to various aspects and eras of American society, politics and history ever since.

Mention “The Crucible’s” relevance to Theatre Guild Valdosta show director Bryan Layton and assistant director Patti Cook Robertson, she said it is possibly relevant now more than ever.

Layton said Miller balanced researched history of the Salem witch trials with dramatization.

In less than 18 months, more than 200 people in a small community were accused of practicing witchcraft. Of the 30 people found guilty of being witches, 19 were executed. One man who refused to enter a plea died while being tortured. Other people died of sickness while being jailed.

A group of teenage girls made the initial accusations. Years later, they confessed to fabricating the charges. The witch hunts ended when clergy began doubting the high number of accusations which included prominent citizens.

Layton said he had originally planned to audition for a role when he learned “The Crucible” was on the Theatre Guild schedule. Instead, he became the show director. A full circle moment for him.

He recalls not only seeing the 1968 television adaptation starring George C. Scott as John Proctor but Layton later met Arthur Miller, who’s best known for the play “Death of a Salesman” and for his brief marriage to Marilyn Monroe.

“During a theatre performance of ‘The Crucible’ that I saw later in my teen years, I met Mr. Miller,” Layton writes in his director’s notes. “I had been performing in high school productions and was setting out into studying acting when I met him. He was very gracious and kind during our brief conversation. He chuckled when I mentioned that I thought Fritz Weaver did an excellent job as Reverend Hale (from the TV adaptation). That chuckle and smile made me feel great, and I knew I wanted to be on stage, playing one of the characters in this play.

“I played various roles in various plays during college, but eventually had the realization that I needed a career to fall back on, just in case the acting career never panned out. I finished college with degrees in history and a continuing interest in the early colonial period of our nation.”

To prepare for the show, Layton said he read the script several times as well as history books on the Salem witch trials. He followed Miller’s stage blocking for the show but made some concessions to The Dosta Playhouse’s smaller stage.

As for the show, audiences can watch it as a historic dramatization of the Salem witch trials, as an allegory about the communist witch hunts of Sen. Joe McCarthy and others, or as a story that speaks to the ages as old as 1600s Salem or as current as 21st century America.

THE CAST: Adyson Peterson, Adrian Davis, Elizabeth Moore, Paul Kirkland, Joshua Joyce, Eryn Wilson, Megan Raabe, Bonnie Williams, Justin Jacobs, Clay Lee, Megan Crawford, Marcela Schlote, Sommers Coleman, Makayla Ross, Poppy Walker, Lynnette Worsley, Andrew Thomas, Amelea DeCoudres, Sally Kirkland, Ben Hawley, Zeke Wilson, T.J. Tillman, Josh Robertson, Tasha Conrad, Justin Chandler.

DIRECTION, PRODUCTION: Bryan Layton, director; Patti Robertson, assistant director; Kamari Samuels, stage manager; Lindsey Clanton, Andy Akers Adelaide Crawford, Evelyn Walker, stage crew; Alijah Patterson, Ben Hawley, producers; Dana Welch, set design; Marcus Barajas, lights; Emily Harding, sound; Linda Stikkel, Sandi Parrish, Marsha Akers, Eryn Wilson, Isabel Zableh, Mary Helen Watson, Rick Patrick, Mary Ann Green, costumers; Lindsey Clanton, props manager; Josh and Patti Robertson, props; Jeannie Gupton, showcase; Evelyn Walker, program design.

Theatre Guild Valdosta presents Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 13-15; 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 16; 7:30 p.m., Feb. 20-22, The Dosta Playhouse, 122 N. Ashley St. More information: Visit www.theatreguildvaldosta.com or call (229) 247-8243.