Director Kirk Starczewski knows Arthur Miller’s timeless classic well; he played the lead back in a college production.

Starczewski has been involved in theater for much of his life, both as an actor and a director. For the last five years, he has volunteered to direct the high school’s fall productions.

Thursday night was the drama club’s first performance, but folks can still check out “The Crucible” at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 2 and Saturday, Nov. 3 in the high school’s Loewenberg Auditorium. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for students and seniors, and are available at the door.

As a staple of both high school and college curriculums, Starczewski said the play is something a lot of people have read or are familiar with.

“This gives us a chance to bring what they’ve read to life,” he said.

Based on the events surrounding the Salem witch trials of 1692, “The Crucible” examines prejudice, fear and persecution in a small seventeenth-century community. However, the play isn’t merely a well-written piece of historical fiction. It also serves an allegory for McCarthyism and The Red Scare, a period of America’s history during which the government conducted similar witch hunts targeting citizens accused of communism.

The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) investigated many in Hollywood including actors, directors and writers for their left-wing views, and hundreds of entertainers were blacklisted and unable to get work. Miller himself was blacklisted after refusing to testify, but his plays continued to be performed on the stage.

While Starczewski considers himself fortunate to have so many students interested in participating every year, he said it can be difficult finding plays with enough roles. He believes “The Crucible” was the perfect choice for this year’s 40-member cast, which is supported by approximately 20 crew members.

“This is one of the greats of American theater and literature,” Starczewski said. “There’s so much meat to it, and it’s still relevant even today.”