WITCHES!? IN SALEM?! A New Play premieres at HERE this March

Get your broomsticks. The writer of the long-running Off-Broadway wizard comedy Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic, is back with another play also involving witchcraft. Witches!? In Salem?! performs at HERE Arts Center in New York City, March 16th through March 30th. 

Welcome to Salem Village, 1692. A bad year to visit. Here, wealthy landowners want your land, local magistrates want your confession, unpopular reverends want your respect but more importantly your firewood, and everyone wants someone to be punished for something. Meanwhile, several local children try to make sense of a hysteria they find themselves at the center of. Oh! And the newest villagers, the Bloodkravens are here too. They are confused about it all.

A darkly comedic, yet (mostly) historically accurate take on the Salem Witch Trials and all the (mostly) historically accurate horrors which may occur when populism runs rampant, injustice is a day to day occurrence, and a rigid religious minority sets the laws of the land. You know, old timey problems. A companion, or an alternative, to a certain other Salem play you probably read in high school. “Witches!? In Salem?! is the most exciting kind of comedy: sharp, hilarious, and appallingly timely.” Says director Rachel Dart. “I could not be more delighted to work with this phenomenal cast and creative team on what is probably the funniest play there is about the brutal consequences of religious fanaticism!

Written by Matt Cox, and directed by Rachel Dart the play will be featured as a part of Witches, Queers and Clowns, a three week performance series at HERE focused on societal outcasts. It is produced by Jonathan Cottle and Matt Cox in association with BonfireWorks Foundation, a Hudson Valley based non-profit dedicated to supporting the commission, development and creation of public artworks and arts experiences to inspire and promote human connection.

A crowdfunding campaign is underway for the production here. Rewards for donating include your name on a thank you page in the script, a classroom Zoom with playwright Matt Cox, an exclusive show t-shirt from jordandene.com, and more! 

For more information, click here.