←Recommendations of John Proctor is the Villain

I've either seen (or read) so many versions of this play over the past year, including its recent 2024 production at Huntington Theatre Company, and it's always left me sobbing, listening to Lorde on the way home. It's nothing short of an absolutely stunning play that takes its character's truths so seriously while acknowledging the quirks that come with coming-of-age. The play is speculative in its imagining, and arguably demanding, of worlds better than was given—a world where one moves and dance to a new sound.

This play has been hyped up like nobody's business. I'm pleased to report that it lives up to the hype, and then some.

At once a feminist critique of "The Crucible," a coming-of-age story centering a group of teenage girls, and a rallying cry for change, this play features fast-paced dialogue and intriguing dynamics that believably shift over the course of the play. Each character feels flawed, human, and real. And the final monologue is one of the most beautiful and galvanizing in contemporary theatre.

If I ever teach "The Crucible," I will happily teach this play alongside it.

This play is a gem, a jewel, required reading and producing. Kimberly Belflower is a special writer, writing necessary stories for these times full of warmth, humor and truth.

Such a damn good play.

My favorite play I've ever read-- I wrote a college essay on it and hope so badly to be a part of a production of it one day.

I just saw a production of this play at the Studio Theatre in DC, and couldn’t believe a play that centers on a high school textual analysis of a classic play could be so riveting and thought-provoking. It was also funny, touching and exuberant. I hope Belflower’s play is read and seen as a companion piece to the classic around the country, at least on the college level. It is truly spellbinding.

This play is frickin brilliant. I saw it twice in its world premiere at Studio Theater. One of the best pieces of writing I have ever seen and so, so relevant. I'm grateful this play is in the world.

The story I needed in high school to set straight who we valorize and why in American history and the dramatic canon. A heart-wrenching and heartwarming story of girlhood and the way that it's shaped by all that is around and inside us.

Joining the chorus of readers singing the praises of this script. I was laughing and cringing in recognition, and incredibly moved by the end. Kimberly captures the rhythms of teenage girls' speech and the nuances of their relationships beautifully. Read this play, produce this play, teach this play in high school English classes instead of (or at least in conversation with) THE CRUCIBLE.

John Proctor is the Villain understands that young women are intelligent, multifaceted, and worthy of complex characterization. It tackles difficult topics like sex education, religion, sexism, and sexual assault elegantly and honestly. Theatre as a whole is grappling with how to approach material and systems that are standard/classic/canon which contain limited and often problematic points of view. How do we talk about it? This play isn't afraid to ask those necessary questions. Also, the joy and liberation in the last moment of the play? Young people dancing wildly to a Lorde song? I'm desperate for it.