history

Men and feminism are useless in PTC’s John Proctor is the Villain (Review)

| Rachel's Reviews

I must admit I came to PTC’s John Proctor is the Villain on Friday having had my own tough day as a modern woman trying to make something for myself in this hard world. My youtube channel has been hacked and it has currently been eliminated from existence. It’s beyond discouraging to see something I’ve worked at for over a decade just gone as if it didn’t even exist. Anyway I came to this play feeling physically exhausted and mentally drained, which isn’t ideal but it’s just the reality of life sometimes. I did my best to focus on the new-to-me play and the production from PTC and overall I enjoyed the experience.

While I do wish there was more nuance to the men in John Proctor is the Villain the playwright takes aim at feminism and supposed advocates for women as well, which helps make the experience interesting and enlightening. There is also a lot of humor and that helps make any preachiness more palatable and entertaining to watch.

This look at feminism comes with a re-examination of the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller which was written in 1953 as a critique of the “red scare” of that time but is set during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. As is clear from the title John Proctor is the Villain takes this play from the 50s and analyzes it with a modern ‘me-too’ lens. This is interesting to see what group think and womanhood looks like from a 1692, 1953 and 2018 perspective.

The woman in the modern play are high school students in rural Georgia who are reading The Crucible under the guidance of their seemingly charismatic teacher Mr. Smith (Colby Strong.) At the same time the girls are forming a feminist club which is supposed to be helping them (although it is never clear what the purpose of the club actually is.) While there are boys in the club as well as girls it becomes a safe space for the girls to vent their frustrations with their lives.

At PTC director Karen Azenberg faced a challenging situation with their stage being flooded and the play having to be performed at Westminster University. I am sure this has been a very difficult time for the production I do think the smaller venue provided an intimacy which works quite well for this small human story. My only complaint is it was very warm in the theater the night I attended, which makes sitting through the experience more difficult.

The cast for this play is excellent being led by Skye Alyssa Friedman as the energetic nerd Beth who is leading the club and Alex Humphreys as Raelynn who probably has the biggest growth arc of any of the girls. As I said, the men are all fairly one-note with Mason played by Gage Martinez probably having the most nuance as the dumb lug of the group.

I suppose I would be more annoyed by the portrayal of the men as all suspect and predatory if feminism was being presented as a great answer to all of these problems but it isn’t. The play does not have any such easy answers. It all could be seen as quite cynical especially given we see so little societal grown throughout time but the play is funny enough that it keeps the audience from feeling discouraged.

Especially knowing they had a venue change the scenic design by Jo Winiarski is very impressive. It looks and feels like a classroom with a wall of chalkboards that is used by the students with desks and chairs that are moved into different configurations throughout the play. They also have music cues and other sound design by E.E. Bradman

At the end of the day, the message behind John Proctor is the Villain is we cannot lean on any philosophy or movement to dictate how we treat others. Those of ill-intent will manipulate the vulnerable every time whether it be now, the 1950s or 1690s. We have to look at the individuals and decide for ourselves whether the person should be helped or condemned. It’s the only way actual human progress happens- on a case for case basis and we can’t do that without listening effectively. While I do wish there was more nuance it is a message and a play that should inspire a lot of discussion especially if any teens are in attendance. I would love to hear what younger audience members think of it. I’m certainly glad I saw it even on what was a very difficult day. It is playing at PTC through October 3rd and tickets can be purchased here.

John Proctor is the Villain is a play by Kimberly Belflower and it was first performed in Washington DC in 2022 and on Broadway in 2025.

If you enjoy my writing and would like me to review your production I’d love to. I also have a patreon which is a great way to support my shorter logs for shows I don’t get to review. I have some really fun perks like bonus episodes, patron polls and monthly Q&As with actors, directors and writers. Please take a look here.

‘PRAYER FOR THE FRENCH REPUBLIC’ AT PTC CANT RECOVER FROM A BLOATED SCRIPT (REVIEW)

| Rachel's Reviews

When I was setting up this site I was very thoughtful about the scoring ruberic I would use. At first I considered the smile and frown worthy system I have for movie reviews (for that site), however since I review so much community theater giving anyone a frown didn’t feel right. What I came up with instead was ‘go see it’ and ‘not for me’ and the latter is how I feel about today’s play. Prayer for the French Republic is not a bad play and will probably resonate with many theatregoers. Indeed much about the production at Pioneer Theatre Company is praiseworthy and handsomely mounted but it is definitely not for me. It might be for you, and I celebrate that but let’s talk about why the experience was not as edifying as I might have hoped.

To begin with I do admire PTC artistic director Karen Azenberg’s ambition for adding such a fresh and difficult to market play into their season. The length and topics discussed are not going to be for the average casual theatregoer and that’s what keeps people coming back to PTC time and again. It may not have paid off for me but I do appreciate big swings and that’s what they took. She also directed the production which was effective in spite of its many moving pieces.

The cast is all uniformly strong with Salt Lake royalty Jayne Luke stealing every scene she is in as the 1944 section of the script. I just saw her in Arsenic and Old Lace and it was delightful to see a totally different type of character from such a talented actress. I also enjoyed Kim Taff as 2016 daughter Elodie Benhamou. She has a monologue to open Act 2 which while it goes on far too long was delivered with a dry sense of humor. None of the actors attempt a French accent which I found surprising but I guess that was the case with the Broadway play as well.

The set by Bryce Cutler is also very impressive with them creating a kind of black box on stage with black curtains surrounding an apartment framed in by a white box with lighted walls going way high into skies. They also used the middle of the stage to swap out different apartments creating the 1944 vs 2016 settings including at different points a bedroom, a full kitchen and more.

My problem with Prayer for the French Republic comes down to Joshua Harmon’s script. It’s not just that it is 3 hours with 2 intermissions (I enjoyed The Lehman Trilogy at PTC last year that’s also long with 3 acts.) The problem is the flipping back and forth between the 2 eras makes it difficult to invest fully in the narratives of the characters. This is especially a shame with the 1944 section because the perspective of a post-Holocaust Jewish family is interesting and one I haven’t seen much of in theatre or film. I have felt the same way in other split time narratives like The Joy Luck Club (book and film) where the modern section feels so much less compelling than the older one. Why does it seem like modern characters spend most of their time in these narratives complaining? This is exemplified by Elodie’s monologue which while funny did become ponderous after a while.

The whole play feels bloated and to use a pedestrian term frankly boring. Particularly the modern characters aren’t sharing authentic experiences but are speechifying to each other and to the audience, which again, becomes tedious and bland. I know it was a very successful play on Broadway and has a lot of fans but at least in this iteration it did not work for me, and I left feeling more tired than intrigued. Others mileage on Prayer for the French Republic may vary so if it sounds intriguing check it out. It is playing at PTC until Nov 9th and tickets can be purchased here.

If you enjoy my writing and would like me to review your production I’d love to. I also have a patreon which is a great way to support my shorter logs for shows I don’t get to review. I have some really fun perks. Please take a look here.