The Crucible is a 1961 opera based off of the classic 1953 play. The story takes place in Salem during the Salem witch trials of 1692 and follows a farmer and his wife who are accused of witchcraft. They are tried for their accusations by a corrupt and paranoid court, which ultimately leads to the farmers death.

Matt's vision for this production was to keep everything very minimalistic, dark, and gloomy as well as create a setting that is outside of a specific time period while being influenced by current events (the corrupt court character costumes are meant to reference ICE agents as commentary on the brutality that is happening in America). The rest of th cast is all dressed in dark colors and the lighting design is very minimal as well. There are only about 30 lighting cues throughout the two-hour opera, with LED color washes/specials only taking place in a few key moments. To achieve gloomy and sullen looks I kept the front washes dark without much side lighting, focused the washes only on the areas of action on stage, and used cell-pattern gobos to keep minimal light on the rest of the stage while still highlighting any movement that may be happening outside of the main wash.