On February 13, Immaculata-La Salle’s annual Royal Art Walk had a special addition: Mr. Gamwell’s English III Honors Classes’ Crucible project. 

The Crucible is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692–93. Miller wrote the play as an allegory for McCarthyism, when the United States government persecuted people accused of being communists.

English III Honors engaged in collaborative work between all blocks. The students were assigned specific roles and tasks. These roles included: group member, captain and curator. The tasks required leadership and hard work.

Some of the project were to make a playlist based of scenes and characters in the book; to create a detective’s case file on one of the characters; and to find articles on witchcraft/witch hunts in today’s day and age.

There were also many variations of posters based of the story. One of the posters was to show which characters represented the Seven Deadly Sins.

One thing the projects  had in common was they had to provide evidence from the book, such as quotes.

During Art Walk, students participated in a guided tour of the projects by the moon temple and called the tour “More Weight.” 

The project consisted of three stations: the crime scene, the memorial of John Proctor and the detective’s office.

For the crime scene the students laid out “evidence” and had investigation markers. The memorial had the articles of John Proctor all around. However, right out side the moon temple were it was stationed, the students created signs to make it seem as if there was a protest. Finally, the detective’s office had case files and more evidence.

Mr. Gamwell, the English III honors teacher, conceived of and moderated this project.

“I think it was a really impressive turn out,” Mr. Gamwell said. “My students exceeded all expectations. ‘More Weight’ was a collaborative experience that demonstrated the leadership and perseverance of my Honors classes.

“I am proud of all the hard work and time they dedicated to realize our shared vision. Especial thanks to all the group captains and the curators who oversaw the collection and led over 20 tours during the school day and Art Walk.”

All in all, everyone at Art Walk could see the hard work and effort that these honor students contributed to this project.