APA Theatre presents THE SCARLET LETTER

From page to stage: Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Dramatized by Halsted Welles. 

“...if truth were everywhere to be shown, a scarlet letter would blaze forth on many a bosom...” 

Finn Mitchel as Chillingworth tries to keep Reverend Dimmesdale (Mason Marie) from confessing of his sin with Hester Prynne (Alssya Hall) in town square.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s complex, powerful and moving story of Hester Prynne is brought to life vividly but Halsted Welles at the Academy for the Performing Arts.  With an impressive set and historic costumes created by our student designers APA’s The Scarlet Letter is both epic and intimate as the talented actors bring forth these classic characters.  English students have read the book for many years but now they can watch it on the stage.

The classic drama will be performing on April 23, 24, and 25 at 7:30 pm plus April 26 at 2:00 at the historic Huntington Beach High School Auditorium.   Robert Rotenberry directs a cast of over fifty actors.  Joe Batte is the technical director and Rachel Engstrom is supervising the costumes for this all student designed show. 

In a Puritan settlement in Boston in the mid 1600’s, inside the jail is one Hester Prynne, an adulteress who's just about to be released from prison so that she can be paraded through town, displaying the scarlet "A" that she's been forced to wear as evidence of her adultery.   The townspeople are outraged and it is supposed to be a mark of shame, but since Hester is a master at needlework, she makes her “A” beautiful. She's has a baby daughter, Pearl, but her husband has been away for two full years. Hester has committed an inexcusable crime and has compounded it and confounded her prosecutors by refusing to name her partner in sin. The man who allows her to protect him suffers more from pangs of conscience than he would have from public humiliation. The dramatic climax shows us once again the timeless truth that compassion and understanding are forever more powerful than vengeance and cruelty.

Hester Prynne (Alssya Hall) is reunited with Reverend Dimmesdale (Mason Marie)

Tickets are $22 for adults and $16 for students and seniors.  Seating is reserved.  Tickets can be purchased on line at www.hbapa.org.   Some themes and language may not be appropriate for children elementary school age and younger.