Review: John Proctor is the Villain

Review of the Saturday, May 31, 2025 evening performance at the Booth Theatre in New York City. Starring Sadie Sink, with Nihar Duvurri, Gabriel Ebert, Molly Griggs, Maggie Kuntz, Hagan Oliveras, Morgan Scott, Fina Strazza and Amalia Yoo. A new play by Kimberly Belflower. Scenography by AMP ft. Teresa L. Williams. Costume Design by Sarah Laux. Lighting Design by Natasha Katz. Sound and Original Composition by Palmer Hefferan. Projection Design by Hannah Wasileski. Directed by Danya Taymor. 1 hour 45 minutes, with no intermission.

The final scene of John Proctor is the Villain is powerful and thrilling, but its final seconds are breathtaking and cathartic. As the title suggests, Kimberly Belflower's new play takes everything we thought we knew the hero of about Arthur Miller's The Crucible and stands it on its ear. Alternately hilarious and horrifying, this intense play is easily the best production of the season past several seasons. 

While this modern play soon exposes itself as an allegory for an allegorical play, it is nevertheless full of twists, turns and revelations that are somehow not surprising at all yet shocking just the same. Other plays have moved me, sure, but none have taken my heart and soul on such an emotional ride since dare I say it, Lost In Yonkers back in the 90s. There are no grand effects, sweeping visuals or puppets to heighten my senses. There is just good, solid dialogue, smart plotting with challenging themes, and a brilliant company of actors leaving it all on the stage.

Danya Taymor, the reigning directorial queen of teen angst, could (should) win her second Tony Award for her masterful staging. The focus ebbs and flows so naturally, (one feels almost like a peeping Tom) watching this honors English class, with its imaginative use of movement so easily could have been a static classroom drama - and dramatic pauses that punctuate each scene. Taymor has amped up the Gen Z anxiety with rapid fire bursts of conversation and tense physical juxtapositions. The effect causes us to share in the students' fears while simultaneously wanting to protect them and shake them for their maddening naivete. Turns out that all of that anxiety is well founded, with accusations of sexual abuse beginning to swirl around this small town, and, soon enough in this classroom. Power, trust and Me Too politics all come into play - a witch hunt comes to a high school and lives are destroyed. It is a lot to juggle, but thankfully this director knows how to handle it. Never hard to follow, the details are carefully doled out and we are collectively on the edge of our seats.

The design team certainly adds to the experience: the "scenography" by AMP featuring Teresa L. Williams is a meticulously detailed small-town Georgia classroom with room to move and different playing areas. It is the perfect crucible. Similarly, Sarah Laux's costumes are both realistic and thematically apt, as is the general lighting by Natasha Katz. Katz beautifully supplements the more theatrical moments with focused spots. The final minutes are made more thrilling by Hannah Wasileski's dizzying floor projections. (I do recommend the mezzanine at the Booth.)

In yet another example of why the Tony Awards need to recognize ensemble casts, these nine actors are, to a person, stunning. There are two adults in the world: a new, caring guidance counselor whose rookie status is both a hindrance and a help, and the experienced but still youthful teacher, whose passion for his subject ignites a fire in his students. The counselor is played with an open heart and, eventually, a shocking clarity by Molly Griggs. Current Tony nominee Gabriel Ebert is the teacher with a knack for gaining the trust of the kids in his care, and this actor continues his streak of wide-ranging portrayals, with this unflinching, frightening turn. His nomination is completely deserved.

The rest of the company is full of young up and comers, each one with the potential for long, storied careers. Hagan Oliveras plays the alpha male out of his depth when he faces a reckoning for his sexist behavior with several of his classmates. He manages to be both a bad guy and mildly sympathetic; his is a tough assignment perfectly executed. As the other male student, Nihar Duvurri plays a kid, who on the surface also seems completely out of his depth. Until he isn't. His arc is a crowd-pleaser.

The five young women are central to the action and point of the play, not unlike their Crucible counterparts. As a unit, they represent their small town society. Individually, they make a strong case for the future. There's the daughter of the town's minister, is forced to reevaluate her upbringing in the face of moving on with her own life, played with a sweet fierceness by Amalia Yoo. The Outsiders' Maggie Kuntz plays the popular girl whose home and family have been central to this friendship group's social life for years. Her idyllic childhood is shattered by accusations of her father's impropriety, and Ms. Kuntz nails that fragility without ever overacting it. And there's the newest student, a big city transplant played with a biting savvy by Morgan Scott, who brilliantly plays the balancing act of a more worldly view and trying to fit in with her new surroundings. 

The other two students do a lot of the comedic and dramatic heavy lifting; having now seen this it is no wonder both are Tony-nominated. Fina Strazza is a wonder as the meticulous brainiac with one eye on college applications the other on pleasing her teacher. Her saccharine delivery is both funny and - amazingly - ingratiating. We are on her side the entire time, even more so as she is forced to acknowledge a life-changing reality. Finally, there's Sadie Sink, who was largely unknown to me before this. Let's just say she earned her above-the-title-billing, as she navigates a labyrinth of emotions. She is a fiery, captivating presence who endears even as she infuriates. Her final scene alone is worth the price of admission.

Thirty plus years between plays that make me feel this much was entirely worth the wait. I cannot recommend this play enough. It is a thrill ride from start to finish, not to be missed.

📸: J. Cervantes