B'way/Off-B'way Reviews: John Proctor Is the Villain; Grief Camp

Sadie Sink in John Proctor Is the Villain.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes

Two dramas on teen torment recently opened on and Off-Broadway, approaching their subjects through different lenses and both achieving dynamic theatrical results. Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor Is the Villain at the Booth offers a radical reinterpretation of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible as its starting point, but the play itself is rather conventionally structured. Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theater Company, Eliya Smith’s Grief Camp takes what could have a Lifetime TV-movie plot—teens at camp dealing with the deaths of loved ones—and gives it an unconventional twist. Her play is a disturbing, puzzling, yet ultimately satisfying portrait of adolescent angst, as is Belflower’s work.

Set in 2018 at the height of the #MeToo movement, in a one-stoplight Georgia town, John Proctor follows the treacherous and tricky path trod by a group of high-school students as they study Miller’s classic play on the Salem witch trials and find parallels to their own situation. The girls in Mr. Smith’s Honors English class are wrestling with their burgeoning sexuality and an atmosphere of male repression. When they form a feminism club, it raises hackles in the conservative town as accusations of adult misconduct surface. Ivy’s dad has allegedly committed harassment with more than one woman, Raelynn is being pressured by her boyfriend Lee to have sex, and Shelby is returning to school after a mysterious absence. Shelby emerges as the main character as the shocking reason for her “sabbatical,” as she calls it, is revealed and she challenges the standard interpretation of John Proctor as the hero of The Crucible and his accuser Abigail as the villainess.   

Amalia Yoo, Morgan Scott, Sadie Sink,
Fina Stazza, Nihar Duvvuri, and Hagan Olveras
in John Proctor Is the Villain.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes

Additional plot strands involve straight-A student Beth whose faith in her favorite teacher Mr. Smith is severely tested; new counselor Ms. Gallagher, barely older than the kids, attempting to make her mark; recent Atlanta transplant Nell navigating her way through treacherous waters; and Mason, trying his best to be a male ally.

Belflower captures the roiling ambivalent emotions of the students and teachers, combining raucous humor with raw pathos. Danya Taymor’s direction is fast-paced and pulsing with tension just beneath the day-to-day schoolroom surface. Sadie Sink (Stranger Things, The Whale) has a dynamic, captivating, jittery energy as Shelby. She covers her secret vulnerability with a rush of snarky observations, and gradually peels back Shelby’s tough exterior to reveal a shaky, confused kid. Amalia Yoo’s questioning Raelynn and Maggie Kuntz’s rattled Ivy are movingly insecure. Morgan Scott as Nell has several funny moments as does Fina Strazza as the overeager Beth. Hagan Oliveras and Nihar Duvvuri make the boys Lee and Mason more than adolescent stereotypes. Gabriel Ebert displays layers of deceit as the seemingly model teacher Mr. Smith and Molly Griggs shows Ms. Gallagher’s hidden strength.