When Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible” was first performed on Broadway in 1953, it offered the first pop culture allegory for the era of McCarthyism and the Red Scare — which continued into the late 1950s.

In the play, Miller describes the Salem witch trials of 1692, when intolerance, hysteria and unfounded accusations overtook a small Puritan village in Massachusetts, resulting eventually in the hanging of 19 men and women.

Miller himself was later questioned by the House of Representatives’ Committee on Un-American Activities, in 1956, in their ongoing hunt for communists to blacklist.

Miller’s play (which was later made into a film and even an opera) continues to be a vital work, not only because of its important historical lesson but because, unfortunately, its themes are never-endingly current.

And because, in the case of the Hood River Valley High School’s production of “The Crucible,” it’s just downright enthralling to watch.

Drama teacher Rachel Harry decided to stage the play when she discovered that it required a fairly large cast.

“I’d done a very small (cast) play last year,” she said. “The Crucible” has 20 cast members. “I also wanted to do something more serious, and I wanted a classic.”

The production features one of the youngest casts Harry has had in recent years — and it highlights some real talent that she’ll have to work with for the near future.

“For a number of the actors, this is their first show,” she said. “I have really terrific kids coming up.” The production also features three seniors, all veteran drama students.

One of the big challenges of the production was costuming, according to Harry.

“It’s commonly perceived that everyone wore black back then,” she said. “That’s not true. They wore muted colors.” She wound up renting more costumes than usual, but she did have some dresses made with the help of parents.

Another challenge was the multitude of lines — and helping the actors grapple with unspoken meaning.

“It’s a wordy play,” Harry said. “Being able to find the subtext behind the lines was difficult.” She and her students did a lot of pre-production work — researching Web sites and reading about the era of the Salem witch trials.

Harry and her crew came up with a simple but powerful stage for the play — straying from the production notes which suggested using a few stark props. There are few, but they work exceedingly well — especially the cascading staircase with a swing at the top.

“I wanted something spilling, like those stairs,” Harry said. “These girls tipped the bucket over, and I wanted something to symbolize that.”