SAUGUS — The hysteria of 1692 Old Salem Village was brought to Saugus in a whirlwind witch trial Wednesday night.
Using sound effects, lighting, and a crew of spirited actors, The Delvena Theatre Company, which has more than 25 years of experience producing plays that provoke thought, reenacted the Salem Witch Trials with the help of an active audience at the Saugus Public Library.
The company creates original shows designed to educate as well as entertain. Following every performance, there is a post-show discussion between the cast and the audience.
“It’s fun to have fun with it, but at the end, we take a moment to say this really happened and recognize that people’s lives were forever ruined by this,” said actor Joseph Zamparelli.
The theater company was founded in 1992 by a group of working actors, and moved to The Boston Center for the Arts in 1996. To meet an educational need, the company offers “shows to go” in nontraditional settings.
Wednesday’s performance was set in Salem in 1692, a year in which 20 of the approximate 168 men and women accused of practicing witchcraft were executed. The audience was transformed into a jury in the trial of Susannah Martin, one of the accused, and given the opportunity to question the defendant and form their own opinions on whether she was guilty or innocent.
Martin, portrayed by actress Lynne Moulton, was one of 14 women executed during the Salem Witch Trials. She was born in 1621 in Buckinghamshire, England, and moved to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, settling 40 miles north of Boston in Salisbury in 1639. She later called Amesbury home.
She married a blacksmith and had eight children, but was viewed as a troublemaker and had been accused of witchcraft twice before she was executed in 1692.
The final time, she was accused by Mary Walcott, Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam, Jr., and Mercy Lewis. She was found guilty of witchcraft and hanged at Proctor’s Ledge near Gallow’s Hill on July 19, 1692, along with Rebecca Nurse, Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, and Sarah Wildes.
But in a mock trial in Saugus Wednesday night, she was found innocent.
Sebastian Delios, 11, who attended with his mom, Joyce Pagano, said he has learned a little about the witch trials in school, but was shocked to hear the details of what went on during the trials.
Pagano said her son has an interest in drama and recently joined the drama club, but she also wanted him to learn about Massachusetts’ history.
“I wanted him to learn about this because this really happened, and I want him to learn what violence can do to people,” she said.
