‘John Proctor Is The Villain’ Broadway Review: Sadie Sink Works Magic

The Salem Witch trials have, many times over, proven themselves near unbreakable as allegory, starting at least with Arthur Miller’s 1953 The Crucible, in which the goings on in Massachusetts Bay around 1692 made for a master class take-down of McCarthyism. The next decade would see the trials as a stand-in for Civil Rights in no less than several episodes of the sitcom Bewitched, and as backdrop to gothic romance on Dark Shadows, of all things. In our very own century, a president of the United States has mangled the meaning of witch hunt beyond anything but self-pitying victimhood.

And now, with Broadway newcomer Kimberly Belflower’s magnificent play John Proctor Is The Villain as directed by The Outsiders‘ Danya Taymor, the witch trials are turned inside out to serve as commentary on Miller’s masterpiece itself. Set in 2018 in the high school of a “one-stoplight town” in northeast Georgia, John Proctor Is The Villain has found what might be the best, smartest artistic use for the many lives of Salem: The #MeToo Movement of seven years ago, when cultural reappraisals were all but demanded of even the mustiest classroom lessons. It turns out, John Proctor really is the villain of The Crucible. He’s been hiding in plain sight all along.

A play of uncommon nuance, shifting allegiances, and the wisest, most compassionate depiction of teens since the wonderful Kimberly Akimbo, John Proctor Is The Villain – first workshopped in 2018 – feels absolutely of the moment, as relevant today as Netflix’s brilliant Adolescence (though Proctor has no shortage of laughs).

Here’s the set-up: A high school honors lit class – six girls, two boys – are studying The Crucible, guided by the coolest teacher this side of “an inspirational” movie, as one of the devoted kids puts it. The girls are brainy Beth (Fina Strazza); home-troubled Ivy (Maggie Kuntz); Nell (Morgan Scott), newly arrived from Atlanta and the only Black student in the class; Raelynn (Amalia Yoo) a sensitive kid grieving a betrayal by her boyfriend Lee (Hagan Oliveras) and her lifelong best friend Shelby (Sadie Sink). Lee is one of the two boys in the class, alongside the goofy – at first – Mason (Nihar Duvvuri).

Missing from the class as the play begins is the much-talked about Shelby, who left town, under mysterious circumstances, after her affair with Raelynn’s boyfriend was exposed.

Shortly into the play, Shelby returns to school, keeping a terrible secret – until she doesn’t. Maybe it has something to do with Ivy’s headline-making (offstage) father, who is facing some #MeToo allegations in a very public way. Or maybe Shelby’s secret is about the borderline violent Lee, or maybe it’s about someone, or something, else entirely.

As teacher Mr. Smith (Gabriel Ebert) guides the class through what begins as a fairly conventional interpretation of The Crucible, Shelby, and then others, start to question the handed-down wisdom. Why is the “bewitched” girl Abigail always considered the villain? Why is she, a teenager, repeatedly called a “whore” by the adult, married man who slept with her? Why does John Proctor, that man, get the chance to redeem himself as a martyr while leaving a pregnant wife behind and all sorts of human devastation in his wake?

By now you’ve likely figured out that the plot of The Crucible closely mirrors the goings-on in the classroom, with Shelby – a shattering Sadie Sink – a real-life Abigail, castigated (or, worse, not believed) by adults for her disruptive truth-telling. The classroom has its own John Proctor, and believe me when I say his comeuppance – provided merely through the survival and unity of several underage girls – is among the most deeply satisfying scenes on Broadway this season.

In description, all of this real-life-reflected-by-art reads as schematic; in execution, it does not. Director Danya Taymor brings the same empathy and understanding of adolescence she brought so expertly to The Outsiders. Even within the limits of the single classroom set – remarkably detailed and thoroughly convincing (scenography is by the AMP collective featuring Teresa L. Williams) – Taymor moves her cast as if she were directing an edge-of-your-seat thriller, and that’s a huge compliment. At crucial, scene-change points (the masterful lighting design is by the invaluable Natasha Katz), the room goes dark save for a dim spotlight on one character, as if we’re peeking into her soul as she stands among friends and foes alike).

As she was with The Outsiders, Taymor is blessed by a youthful cast that’s second to none on Broadway at the moment. Fina Strazza, as the ever eager Beth, a good Christian girl who more or less wills her talking points feminism into an actual, if fledgling, life, dominates the story’s earliest scenes, so much so that we follow her movements until the very last, stunning moment of the play. Maggie Kuntz is heartbreaking as the girl whose friendships are tested by her loyalty to her creepy father, and Morgan Scott, as the outwardly confident Atlanta girl, registers every undercurrent and slight. Amalia Yoo, as the heart-wounded Raelynn, is in some ways the soul of the play, liberated from a cheating boyfriend but still aching for the lifelong best friend who slept with the jerk.

The adults are equally well played. Gabriel Ebert, as Mr. Smith, is the teacher of every kid’s dreams, hip to the point of being a bit nerdy and vulnerable, intelligent and caring and always siding with the kids against the suits. When well-meaning guidance counselor Miss Gallagher (Molly Griggs) warns the girls that the establishment of a “Feminist Club” is going to be a tough sell to the school board, given the political climate, it’s Mr. Smith who steps in and gets it done. The kids love him, his church loves him, his pregnant wife loves him, even the guidance counselor harbors a secret crush, until she doesn’t.

Sink, who made her Broadway debut at age 10 in Annie but is by far better known for her portrayal of Max Mayfield in the Netflix series Stranger Things, is a revelation. Her Shelby is weighted with a past that is only gradually revealed, her determination to bring truth and life to her classmates as ground-shaking as anything the abused Abigail ever let loose on Salem. When the girls of John Proctor Is The Villain break into dance and scream and laugh, they might just as well be those bewitched Salem girls all those centuries ago. John Proctor Is The Villain reclaims their souls, as the girls in Mr. Smith’s class speak the truth once and for all and at long last.

Title: John Proctor Is The VillainVenue: Broadway’s Booth TheatreWritten By: Kimberly BelflowerDirected By: Danya TaymorCast: Sadie Sink, Nihar Duvvuri, Gabriel Ebert, Molly Griggs, Maggie Kuntz, Hagan Oliveras, Morgan Scott, Fina Strazza, Amalia YooRunning Time: 1 hr 45 min (no intermission)