John Proctor Is The Villain is a Once-in-a-Generation Play

John Proctor Is The Villain is a one act play written by Kimberly Belflower that applies Arthur Miller’s The Crucible to the current day. Set in 2018 Georgia, a group of teenage girls organize a feminist club while simultaneously reading The Crucible in class. Their teacher, Mr. Smith relates The Crucible to McCarthyism, a topic that is most certainly connected to it, although the teenage girls suggest that the story goes beyond the one-dimensional theme of herd mentality. 

The Crucible serves as a parallel for what is going on in the lives of Belflower’s characters here. That’s not to say, you need to study up on the material before going in. Belflower does a great job of summarizing the plot, making it easy for those who have not seen or read the source material to catch up. 

 In a way, John Proctor Is The Villain is almost like a current day re-telling of The Crucible. One of the characters even points out that her father felt like the #MeToo movement was becoming a witch hunt towards men. This becomes a great use of irony considering mostly women were targeted and killed during the Salem Witch Trials for something completely made up, while the #MeToo movement was intended to confront men who committed real heinous acts in order for women to reclaim bodily autonomy. This line alone puts things into perspective, allowing those who think this way to recall history. 

When the girls were spending time alone with each other, it’s as if all of the men and boys faded away. I completely forgot that there were characters who were not girls/women in the show for minutes at a time. It was wonderful to watch girls just being themselves and having fun together. Of course Sadie Sink shined, however each actress had their own personality and their moment to make us laugh or cry. It felt good to see deep female characters completely centered in a Broadway play, as I find this hard to come by. Belflower’s writing and the actresses truly made the woman's experience feel and look authentic on stage.

  Interestingly, with a cast full of women, from what I can tell the play does not pass the Bechdel Test. But in this case, I don’t see this as a negative thing. It’s something I’ve had to think about: Is it possible to discuss feminism without talking about men? I don’t think so. Feminism’s goal is gender equality, therefore it’s not only important, but impossible to exclude men in the conversation. Even through the girls' lines about Taylor Swift, they’re still inherently talking about men (the men within Swift's songs). On the other hand, I loved how passionate the girls were about Taylor Swift. Although I would not refer to myself as a “Swiftie” and I can admit she panders to white women sometimes, I think often female fans are simply referred to as "cringe" due to blatant misogyny. The girls in the show are unapologetically in love with her music and I felt like they were practically reclaiming that love for her.

The show has a big twist and I’m sure a lot of women as well as people who are familiar with The Crucible are likely to see it coming. That does not make it any less impactful. The lighting and sound design instill uneasiness in audience members, adding to the tension of this moment. 

Despite the rather serious, sometimes dark nature of the show, it still manages to be quite comedic and just an all around feel-good show. The ending will leave you with both laughter and tears. It’s like watching a peaceful release of anger; it's freeing. 

As someone who read The Crucible at my own high school, I can’t say that I ever thought of John Proctor as a hero and I believe the general consensus among my decently liberal classroom was the same. Nonetheless, this play made me think about inherent misogyny in our world and what it means to be a feminist. This play is timely and something that everyone can learn from. 

I heard someone say on social media that they felt that John Proctor is The Villain is a once-in-a-generation play. And I agree. I think it could very well speak for the women of this generation.