The Crucible is widely considered one of the great plays of the twentieth century. It debuted on Broadway in 1953 and won the Tony Award for Best Drama and Best Actress. It has since been performed on Broadway in a revival almost every ten years.

This timeless classic challenges ideas of power, intolerance and justice. It is the true tale of a Puritan community in Salem, Massachusetts at the end of the 17th century, a servant girl accuses a farmer's wife of witchcraft. One accusation spirals into many. Townspeople are told that if they confess or give up their friends' names that their lives will be spared. As hysteria spreads and people are sentenced to die merely on the accusation of a neighbor, a web of bigotry and deceit is uncovered that changes lives forever. Among the most produced plays since its 1953 debut, The Crucible is both a gripping historical drama and an evergreen parable of contemporary society.
Miller intended the play to be written as a political thriller in response to the mid-20th-century hysteria of McCarthyism- and the naming of names. One of the major themes in The Crucible is that of honor and integrity. Through the characters of John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, Giles Corey and Rebecca Nurse, Miller gives us complex characters who are able to keep their honor and integrity even though it costs them everything, including their lives.