Play offers insight into 1600s witchcraft

Tonight, the Reva Shiner Winner, "MALEFICIA: A Wonderful Discoverie of Witches," premiers at the Bloomington Playwrights Project, located at 312 S. Washington St. "MALIFICIA" brings four women who were accused of witchcraft in Lancaster County, England, in 1612, back to life.\n"MALEFICIA's" director, Steve Decker, said the play gives a voice to these women who may have never been heard from again.\n"MALEFICIA" is written by Suzanne Wingrove and is based on a surviving pamphlet written by the clerk of the court.\n"During this time, individuality was being challenged. Women and single people were being singled out," said Decker. \nDecker said during the early 1600s, those in power had a fear of an international conspiracy of witches and thousands of witch trials were held across Europe.\n"The persecution of women comes from this period, which is rather disheartening, but (these women) did persevere, which is great," said Decker. \nAccording to BPP sources, Wingrove's script was chosen out of 172 submissions to win the BPP's 10th annual Reva Shiner Award. Every year, the Reva Shiner contest awards an unproduced full-length play with a cash prize and a full production as part of the theater's regular season.\n"This play is about the fear people have of those who are different from us. People perceive those that are different from them as bad. We see it today -- fear of conspiracy, fear of terrorism," said Decker.\nCarmen Meyers, an actress in "MALEFICIA" and a student pursuing her masters in acting at IU, said she's had fun working in the play.\n"The fact that it's a new work, you really get to create these characters out of yourself," Meyers said.\nAccording to its Web site, the BPP is a nonprofit arts organization that produces original plays and theater. They are dedicated to furthering new original plays and theater and producing original shows and playwriting contests.\nGeneral admission tickets are $15 for students and $12 for seniors. Student rush tickets are available 10 minutes before the performance if seats are available. For the Thursday and Sunday performances, the the BPP is offering free tickets for individuals 13 to 18 years old. Call 355-9001 to make reservations.\nFor more information on the BPP or upcoming shows, visit www.newplays.org. \n-- Contact staff writer Laura White at laawhite@indiana.edu.