“The Crucible” Acts 1-3 project options:
Please choose ONE (1) project below to turn in for an project grade (projects are worth 15% of the overall quarter
grade). The project is due at the beginning of class on Thursday, October 31—10% will be deducted for each day it is
late—last day projects will be accepted will be Wednesday, November 6.
1. Research report: Find out more about the junta that governed Salem. How did it come about? How were
members chosen? Were there membership criteria? What influence or power did the junta have? Present your
findings in a research report in proper MLA format accompanied by a chart that illustrates the structure of the
junta and its responsibilities.
2. Sketch: What did Salem look like in 1692? What kind of dwellings did the people have? What household
furnishings and tools did they have? Conduct research to find the answers to all of these questions. Then, make
a sketch or drawing of the following: a representative 17th Century Salem dwelling with several (5-6) pieces of
furniture and a few (3-4) household tolls that a Salem goodwife (like Elizabeth) would use. You MUST provide a
Works Cited page from the research you conducted to create your sketch/drawing.
3. Book Jacket: Design a book jacket for a new edition of The Crucible—you cannot use already established pictures
of book covers or from ANY films! Draw, trace or “cut & paste” a photograph or illustration that will appear on
the cover. Write the “blurb” for the book jacket that will interest bookstore browsers and compel them to buy
the book and read it.
4. Travel Brochure: The setting of “The Crucible” is Salem, Massachusetts, 1692. Prepare a travel brochure on the
modern city of Salem. Include information about the following items: its history, location (including maps—this
means more than one), economy, and points of interest—include more than just the witch trials points of
interest. You must also ensure that you balance your text with graphics for the brochure and include a Works
Cited portion for where you found all the information included on the brochure.
5. Education Report: Reverend Hale is known to be an educated man and arrives in Salem bearing a supply of large
books. How might he have been educated? What educational opportunities existed on the North American
continent in 1692? Write a report on the early history of higher education in what would become America—you
must use proper MLA format and include a Works Cited page for all the sources your used in your report from
your research.
6. Poppet: If a child has a doll in Massachusetts in 1692, it was almost surely homemade. Mary Warren makes such
a little doll in Act II, with malevolent results. Make a “fair poppet” similar to what Mary Warren must have made
for Elizabeth Proctor, using simple materials and design—You MAY NOT buy a doll already made and claim it as
you own.
7. Categorize Characters: Categorize the characters in Act One according to their roles. Then do the same for Act
Three and compare the lists. What differences, if any exist? If your categories are similar, do any characters
move from one category to another? Evaluate any changes and consider what they may reveal about the
characters. This means I am looking for a chart of some kind that provides the categories, a way that illustrates
compare/contrast and an explanation paragraph for the complete project.
8. Sound Track: If you had an orchestra or access to a recording studio, what music would you select to go with
play, act by act? Create a sound track for the play to this point—Acts One-Three. Provide Mrs. Phillips with a CD,
case and CD jacket that explains why you chose what music you chose and gives proper credit to the artists and
songs chosen.
9. Map: We know that Hale has been to Andover and Danforth is from Boston. How removed are these places from
Salem? Research an historical atlas, or other reference and draw/create a DETAILED map of colonial
Massachusetts as it existed in 1692. Indicate relative sizes and major routes.