Claire Budzik’19 as Mary Warren during the trial. (Julia Gurevitz’19)

A Voice In The Dark, the Upper School’s fall play, was brimming with lies, intrigue and plot twists on Thursday, October 26 and Saturday, October 28. Too many of the drama’s themes of injustice remain relevant today, despite this drama’s 17th-century setting in Salem. 

Senior Anna Shuff, who plays Deliverance Hobbs said the play is timely: “Women are still forced to keep silent about men’s abuses of power for fear of how society will treat them.” 

Whether it’s Thomas Putnam (Michael Hoffman’20) telling deadly lies with little regard to whom they will affect, or some of Hollywood big shots, newscasters, politicians, and big-name coaches basking in fame despite sexual assault allegations in “a culture of silence still exists around the wrongdoing of powerful men, it is more important now than ever to confront and destroy that fear and silence for everyone’s sake,” added Shuff.

A Voice In the Dark centers on several vulnerable families. Abigail Hobbs (Sidney Edson’19) faces a dilemma: she can speak up and possibly save her friends, or she can stay quiet for her own safety during our country’s infamous witch hunt. In the end, she decides to speak up, but to no avail. 

The play, a chilling look into America’s past, serves an ominous reminder of what unnervingly persists today.

                   A Voice in the Dark

ABIGAIL HOBBS—————SIDNEY EDSON

SARAH NURSE—————-MIRA BHASIN

REBECCA NURSE————JULIA LEET

FRANCIS NURSE————-PETER DIMAGGIO

DELIVERANCE HOBBS—–ANNA SHUFF

THOMAS PUTNAM…………MICHAEL HOFFMAN

GOODY PUTNAM………….TAYLOR McGOWAN

MARY WARREN……………CLAIRE BUDZIK

BEGGAR WOMAN…………YASAMAN SALON

REVERAND PARRIS………JACK REIFEIS

TOWNS PEOPLE…………..JAY WHITNEY, ABBY JEFFERS, SEJAL JINDAL, EMILY MUNSTER