The first word in this play is “sex.” Mr. Smith says it to his teenage students, asking for its definition, which the class then recites in unison, reading aloud from their textbooks. They’re in a small high school in rural Georgia that doesn’t have enough of a budget for a separate sex education teacher, so Mr. Smith presents that curriculum, taking time out for the first ten minutes of his literature class, before turning to the subject that really interests him: “The Crucible.”
Perhaps this moment is meant to be funny; it’s likely an effort at foreshadowing. It seemed to signal that “John Proctor is the Villain,” which has opened tonight at the Booth Theater, will do whatever is necessary to get our attention (even yell “sex.”) Still, for all such awkwardness, the production largely worked for me. The main reason is probably its splendid ensemble cast.
The play by Kimberly Belflower, who is making her Broadway debut, is an intriguing feminist critique of Arthur Miller’s 1953 play, which is about the Salem witch hunts of the 17th century. The female students point to several aspects of the protagonist John Proctor that make them reject their teacher’s (and standard critical) claim of his heroism – how he had sex with his young servant Abigail, for example, yet she’s the one being blamed for their affair; he even calls her a whore (A debate on the arguments about “The Crucible” in Belflower’s play would make a great student paper – which I’ll leave to a student.) Despite the play’s title, the focus is not on the students’ analysis so much as on the (perhaps too pat) parallels that the students are living through. Written in 2019 and set in 2018, the peak of the #MeToo movement, the play depicts the wave of accusations and revelations of sexual assault that has hit their small town in Georgia — and hits even closer to home.
Central to the appeal of the production are the five actors who portray the female students. Their frank conversations about sex and celebrities, their shifting enmities and alliances, are funny but also feel spot-on. Their extended moments of laughing and crying and dancing together, even shrieking together, are infectious. They are steeped in teenage popular culture of 2018, the references specific enough to evoke that year precisely (the girls in the class sing Lorde’s “Green Light,” which came out in 2017) but current enough (Taylor Swift, Beyonce) to avoid alienating the unplugged in the audience. Indeed, the production, directed by Danya Taymor, seems aimed to please teenage theatergoers but not alienate their parents (or their teachers.) There is pulsing loud music before the show begins; its cast features Sadie Sink, best known for her role as Max in the Netflix series “Stranger Things.”
Sink does a wonderful job as the blunt-speaking Shelby, who has become an outcast among her friends, because she slept with the boyfriend of her best friend. She is reportedly the reason why this play wound up on Broadway – her star power – after more than 100 productions since 2022, many of them on collage campuses. But it would be unfair to single her out without mentioning that best friend, Raelynn, portrayed by Amalia Yoo, the daughter of a preacher, who yearns to break out, and gets several delectable moments to do so. Fina Strazza is also fine as Beth Powell, a hilariously over-prepared student, as are Morgan Scott as newcomer Nell Shaw and Maggie Kuntz as Ivy Watkins.
A word about the two male students — Nihar Duvvuri as Mason Adams, a well-meaning but dim clueless ally; Hagan Oliveras as Lee Turner, Raelynn’s boyfriend who might not even be so well-meaning. Both deserve kudos for turning what could easily have been flat caricatures into credible teenage boys
Gabriel Ebert has the thankless role of the teacher, Carter Smith, which he performs as the pro that he is.
Opening at the start of Spring Break, “John Proctor is the Villain” is an entertainment that doubles as an appropriate lesson for teenagers in history and literature, and for their parents in popular culture.
John Proctor is the Villain
Booth Theater through July 6
Running time: 105 minutes, no intermission
Tickets: $69 – $399
Written by Kimberly Belflower
Directed by Danya Taymor
Scenic Design by AMP and Teresa Williams; Costume Design by Sarah Laux; Lighting Design by Natasha Katz; Sound Design by Palmer Hefferan; Projection Design by Hannah Wasileski; Hair and makeup Design by J. Jared Janas;
Movement by Tilly Evans-Krueger; Casting: Taylor Williams, CSA; Intimacy Direction by Ann James; Vocal, Text & Dialect Coach: Gigi Buffington; Dramaturgy by Lauren Halvorsen;
Cast: Sadie Sink as Shelby Holcomb. Nihar Duvvuri as Mason Adams, Gabriel Ebert as Carter Smith, Molly Griggs as Bailey Gallagher, Maggie Kuntz as Ivy Watkins, Hagan Oliveras as Lee Turner, Morgan Scott as Nell Shaw, Fina Strazza as ‘Beth Powell,’ and Amalia Yoo as Raelynn Nix’ Understudies are Noah Pacht, Fiona Robberson, Shian Tomlinson, Garrett Young, and Victoria Vourkoutiotis.
