UMW Theatre will resume its 2024-25 season with John Proctor is the Villain by Kimberly Belflower. Performances will be February 6-8 and February 13-15 at 7:30 p.m., and February 9 and February 16 at 2:00 p.m. in Klein Theatre, duPont Hall at the University of Mary Washington. Tickets are $30 for standard admission and $25 for students, senior citizens, and military. Groups of ten or more can receive a discount as well.
Guests may also attend the Pay-What-You-Can Preview performance on February 5 at 7:30 p.m. The box office opens at 5:30 p.m. and tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis. AfterWords, a post-show talkback with the cast, will take place after the matinee performance on February 9.
Set in 2018 rural Georgia, John Proctor is the Villain explores the experiences of a group of high school students studying Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible. As scandal erupts in their town, the students begin to draw parallels between their lives and the plot of The Crucible, questioning if John Proctor is the hero he is made out to be. John Proctor is the Villain explores themes of friendship, power dynamics, and patriarchy through a contemporary feminist lens.
After reading The Witches by Stacy Schiff, a nonfiction book about the Salem Witch Trials, Kimberly Belflower began to draw parallels between the trials and the #MeToo movement. With this idea, she was commissioned by The Farm Theater in New York to write a play which grew into John Proctor is the Villain. The play was commissioned by The Farm Theater in 2017 and workshopped there in 2018, as well as the Ojai Playwrights Conference in 2019. The play was staged at Centre College in 2018, at Furman University and Rollins College in 2019, and professionally at DC’s Studio Theatre in 2022. The Broadway premiere is scheduled for spring 2025.
John Proctor is the Villain is directed by Gregg Stull, professor of theatre and chair of the Department of Theatre & Dance. Scenic design is by Associate Professor Michael Benson and sound design by the Director of Marketing and Audience Services Jon Reynolds. Lighting design and costume design are by guest designers Max Doolittle and Alicia Austin ’16 respectively. For further information, call the Klein Theatre Box Office at (540) 654-1111 or visit www.FredTix.com.