Monday, Tuesday; October 17 & 18

1. John Proctor - A local farmer who lives just outside town; Elizabeth Proctor’s husband. A stern, harsh-tongued man, John hates hypocrisy. Nevertheless, he has a hidden sin—his affair with Abigail Williams. He hesitates to expose Abigail as a fraud because he worries that his secret will be revealed and his good name ruined. “I have given you my soul; leave me my name!”

2. Abigail Williams - Reverend Parris’s niece. Abigail was once the servant for the Proctor household, but Elizabeth Proctor fired her after she discovered that Abigail was having an affair with her husband, John Proctor. Abigail is smart, wily, a good liar, and vindictive when crossed. “She is blackening my name in the village!”
3. Reverend John Hale - A young minister reputed to be an expert on witchcraft. He is called in to Salem to examine Parris’s daughter Betty. Hale is a committed Christian and hater of witchcraft. His critical mind and intelligence save him from falling into blind fervor. His arrival sets the hysteria in motion, although he later regrets his actions and attempts to save the lives of those accused. “What profit him to bleed? Shall the dust praise him?”
4. Elizabeth Proctor - John Proctor’s wife. Elizabeth fired Abigail when she discovered that her husband was having an affair with Abigail. Elizabeth is supremely virtuous, but often cold. “The magistrate who sits in your heart judges you.”
5. Reverend Parris - The minister of Salem’s church. Reverend Parris is a paranoid, power-hungry, yet oddly self-pitying figure. Many of the townsfolk, especially John Proctor, dislike him, and Parris is very concerned with building his position in the community. “But if you have trafficked with spirits in the forest I must know it now, for surely my enemies will and will ruin me with it.”
6. Rebecca Nurse - Francis Nurse’s wife. Rebecca is a wise, sensible, and upright woman, held in tremendous regard by most of the Salem community. However, she falls victim to the hysteria when the Putnams accuse her of witchcraft and she refuses to confess. “There is prodigious danger in the seeking of loose spirits.”
7. Francis Nurse - A wealthy, influential man in Salem. Nurse is well respected by most people in Salem, but is an enemy of Thomas Putnam and his wife.
8. Judge Danforth - The deputy governor of Massachusetts and the presiding judge at the witch trials. Honest and scrupulous, at least in his own mind, Danforth is convinced that he is doing right in rooting out witchcraft. “I should hang ten thousand that dared to rise against the law.” “The pure in heart need no lawyers.”
9. Giles Corey - An elderly but feisty farmer in Salem, famous for his tendency to file lawsuits. Giles’s wife, Martha, is accused of witchcraft, and he himself is eventually held in contempt of court and pressed to death with large stones. His last words: “More weight.”
10. Thomas Putnam – Salem’s wealthy, influential citizen, he holds a grudge against Francis Nurse for preventing Putnam’s brother-in-law from being elected to the office of minister. He uses the witch trials to increase his own wealth, accusing people of witchcraft and then buying up their land.” I am one of nine sons. . . And yet I have but one child left of eight.”
11. Ann Putnam - Thomas Putnam’s wife. Ann Putnam has given birth to eight children, but only Ruth Putnam survived. The other seven died before they were a day old, and Ann is convinced that they were murdered by supernatural means. “Reverend Parris, my husband and I have laid seven children in the earth.”
12. Ruth Putnam - The Putnam’s lone surviving child out of eight. Like Betty Parris, Ruth falls into a strange stupor after Reverend Parris catches her and the other girls dancing in the woods. You might not find any lines for her in the play.
13. Tituba - Reverend Parris’s black slave from Barbados. At the night of dancing in the woods,Tituba agrees to perform voodoo at Abigail’s request. “He say Mr. Parris must be killed!”
14. Mary Warren - The servant in the Proctor household and a member of Abigail’s group of girls. She is a timid girl, easily influenced by those around her, who tried unsuccessfully to expose the hoax and ultimately recanted her confession. ” I cannot, they'll turn on me.”
15. Betty Parris - Reverend Parris’s ten-year-old daughter. Betty falls into a strange stupor after Parris catches her and the other girls dancing in the forest with Tituba. Her illness and that of Ruth Putnam fuel the first rumors of witchcraft. “You drank blood, Abby!”
16. Martha Corey -Giles Corey’s third wife. Martha’s reading habits lead to her arrest and conviction for witchcraft. “I, sir, am innocent to a witch. I know not what a witch is.”
17. Ezekiel Cheever - A man from Salem who acts as clerk of the court during the witch trials. He is upright and determined to do his duty for justice.” I think it be evidence, John. I am an official of the court, I cannot keep it.”