John Proctor is the Villain

by Kimberly Belflower

At a high school in a one-stoplight town in Georgia, a group of lively teens navigate young love, sex ed and a few school scandals while studying a canonical play in English class. As the students delve into the American classic, they begin to question the play’s perspective and the validity of naming its hero. With deep wells of passion and biting humor, this dramatic comedy captures a generation mid-transformation, running on pop music, optimism and fury. Alternating between touching, unsettling and bitingly funny moments, these teens discover that their future is not bound by the past and that they have the power to change it all by writing their own coming-of-age story.

Genres: Plays, Drama

164 pages, Paperback

Published March 20, 2026

Reviews

[Emma Chippindale · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite plays I have ever read. My god I would pay someone ONE MILLION dollars to be in this play. Every character is written like a real person (which sounds silly but doesn’t always happen in plays!!!). Each with a clear purpose and connection to the overall themes. Every single character is necessary for the story to be told and to reach different kinds of audience members. It is beautiful and so well written. Im obsessed. Can you tell?

[John Perine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I still think this is the best play of the 21st century

[Angela Sapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love when girls band together to defeat the real enemy: a white man

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

“the other girls see her / we see them see her / she takes a step toward them / is she going to dance too? / she might / she just might

blackout”

god have you ever just bawled your eyes out on the long island railroad because you're reading the last scene of jpitv and also thinking about seeing it live and the intense feelings of female rage but also female friendships that this play stirs in you and the person next to you is looking at you like you're a nutjob but it's like???? i'm literally just waiting for the green light idk what you want from me???

it's like, you know when the blackout is coming and why it's coming and how it happens and what they say but every time you read it you just feel this spider crawly feeling of absolute horror and disgust because kimberly belflower wrote one of if not THE best crafted scenes i have read in a 21st century play ever???? yeah that. 10/10.

[Lia Hielkema · Rating 4 out of 5]

YES FEMALE CHARACTER THAT DON'T FEEL WEIRDLY DIFFUSE
They are so sharp and real and grounded and wrong at times.
I'M WAITING FOR IT THAT GREEN LIGHT

[Grant Vanier · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Lee shakes his head to himself
then he pushes over a desk kinda violently like, he throws it a little not directly at Raelynn or anything he doesn't like hulk out or go crazy it's just a moment of casual violence
it makes you wonder how many times Lee's done stuff like this
it makes you think about all the casual violence you've witnessed and excused
it makes you think about that time in college acting class when a guy punched a hole through the wall right next to his female scene partner and your professor praised him for being "truthful"
it makes you think about how many times you've heard
“boys will be boys”"

[Gwen O’Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It’s just a moment of casual violence / it makes you wonder how times Lee’s done stuff like this / it makes you think about all the casual violence you’ve witnessed and excused / it makes you think about that time in college acting class when a guy punched a hole through the wall right next to his female scene partner and your professor praised him for being “truthful” / it makes you think about how many times you’ve heard ‘boys will be boys’” <— And those are just the stage directions

[Christa Chirico · Rating 5 out of 5]

After seeing this play it was all I could think about/talk about for so long. Reading it to prepare to discuss elements of it with my students in conversation with The Crucible just reminds me how much I loved it.

A celebration of girlhood, including the messy bits. A beautiful remix of a classic text. Like Miller using Salem to make sense of his own time and place, Kimberly Belflower expertly uses Miller’s work to make sense of our own. These are the moments where I’m reminded that some of the classics still deserve space in the English classroom not just because they are “classics,” but because they are capacious enough to be reimagined and challenged with wonderful new works like this.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would LOVE to see a production of this play. It's only somewhat about The Crucible, but it still surprised me with its insights into that play while simultaneously carrying on an entire plot of its own, filled with richly presented characters who are warm and innocent and angry and unsure as they confront what it means to be a girl in the world.

[Anna Vrountas]

Lowkey sick affffffffffff wish I could see it on stage. Women shaking off the confines of the restraints of the male centered universe is literally so threatening to these freaks they think it’s witchcraft — and lowkey isn’t it in a way? It definitely IS a threat to them bc it’s like an exorcism, an expression of liberation and refusal to cooperate/comply. Like the fire metaphor in the last monologue — we scortch the earth of this bullshit and then we use the fire to keep us warm. Based af.

[Brooke Cousins · Rating 5 out of 5]

please please please please pleasepleasepleasepleaseple

[Addey Kane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy fucking shit

[giuliano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Final sequence goes insane.

[Sophia K Vargas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterpiece

[Kaira · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cried at a coffee shop table and again on my couch with the window open and the rain pouring.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe it’s better to see it performed? As a read, pretty on-the-nose and VERY 2017

[Charlie Borg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is 15% vanity (pissed it’s not the cover with the uk cast) and 85% pure truth and love. I had heard whispers of the broadway run whilst it was on and how good it was but as with most broadway shows, I moved on thinking it would never reach me. This play landing in my lap is one of my luckiest moments. It’s such a beautiful and truthful look at the teenage and human experience with love and betrayal and learning and heartbreak. The women being the ones to question and demand more from the male dominated and ruled systems is such a great reminder that youth and gender don’t equate to intelligence and authority. There are no Lols or omgs or other cheap and easy teenage slang which often screams “I’m a 40+ year old and this is just a one dimensional look at young people”, instead there’s real people dealing with real struggle and joy; just as all real people are. I highly recommend seeing the play if you can (👀), but if you can’t then pick up a copy of this wherever you can. It’s perfect for people wanting a juicy story and also for young actors looking for monologues/duologues. My biggest flex is probably Kimberly Belflower buying me a guiness on my birthday.

[rachel rinehart · Rating 5 out of 5]

“lee shakes his head to himself
then he pushes over a desk kinda violently
like, he throws it a little
not directly at raelynn or anything
he doesn't like hulk out or go crazy
it's just a moment of casual violence
it makes you wonder how many times lee’s done stuff like this
it makes you think about all the casual violence you've witnessed and excused
it makes you think about that time in college acting class when a guy punched a hole
through the wall right next to his female scene partner and your professor praised him for being "truthful"
it makes you think about how many times you've heard "boys will be boys" “

there’s never been a play that has ever sat with me the way this one has. a story about girls discovering who they are. how we can’t just except things for the way they are. everyone should read this play at least once. it will change you for the better.

[Becca Supcoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow wow. The most riveting and devastatingly relatable experience of being an intelligent and creative young woman in a patriarchal world. No matter how we are pushed down and taken advantage of, they can never take away the support we can offer to each other. As we hope for a better world to one day emerge, the most courageous act of defiance we can show in this divided one, is turning on our green light - for each other, for the other women and girls who at least need someone to dance with them.

5 stars, would be a total dream to take on any of these beautifully fleshed out characters one day.

[Emily Skipper · Rating 5 out of 5]

🥹 I am so thrilled that this was my first ever broadway show! I barely knew anything about it but it had just opened and obviously I knew sadie sink so I was like, hello let me get a ticket! And this truly has reshaped the way I think about theatre, the crucible, lorde, and like life?? Sorry to be cliche
I bought the play script the very next day from the broadway store and I’m just now getting back to reading it and holy crap I was back in that theatre seeing it all so vividly. This is why theatre is important. This play has so much power to change lives and inspire people. I love theatre. I love this

[Kennedi Kauffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

reread this to study/dig deeper into the material for research purposes. left being reminded why this is my favorite play on earth. 600000⭐️

i believe that everyone should see this play or at least read the script. it’s so well written and impactful and resonates so deeply with the reader. bellflower perfectly encapsulates what it’s like to be a teen girl. the writing is so perfect and every single line is meaningful. i have so many more thoughts but i can’t write them all down, if you read this lmk and i will talk to you for hours about all your thoughts.

[Maddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dang. I can’t wait to see this live.
I somehow avoided reading The Crucible in high school, so only came in with a Wikipedia/sparknotes (ironically!) version knowledge, but this was a fantastically nerdy literary show that really captures what it means to be a teenager and a woman in general in a patriarchal world. What a fantastic reflection of the MeToo movement but also power dynamics between men and women, boys and girls. I loved this and hope it continues to get traction.

[Loulou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Again, I rarely gives books a 5 star rating. Let alone a play… but I carefully weigh my words when I say that this play hit me hard.

The layers of being a girl were explored and there is room for a lot of interpretation. It’s the kind of play that immediately makes you want to read it again.

It makes you think. It makes you feel. It makes you cry. It makes you laugh.

What more can I ask for?

[Ria~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness, reading this after starting the Crucible was actually perfect. This play is genius I swear. The parallels between this and the Crucible itself are so well thought out, and as I kept reading there were so many moments where I had my hand over my mouth. When you read the Crucible, you get most of the underlying deep meanings through discussion or thanks to thorough analysis, however with this play? It slaps you in the face with it in the best way possible, you can’t ignore what it’s showing you and I appreciate that so so much. Kimberly Belflower you are a brave, bold, genius.

[Travis Settoon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A play that has incredibly complex relationships between the characters who are navigating an incredibly challenging time in their own perceptions of each other and the ones they love. Furthermore, the playwright expertly places these young characters in difficult situations but remembers that they’re still teenagers trying to figure out their life and the kind of people they want to be. These are incredibly layered characters that feel real, rather than imagined/written for a play.

[brody loveless · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw this live at my local college last year. It was amazing, genuinely. I was SO excited when my girlfriend got this for herself and then gave it to me.
I love Shelby and Raelynn. I relate to both of them very deeply, and the writing is genuinely perfect. A play has NO business being written so well.

[Caroline Colella · Rating 3 out of 5]

in the style of the script *

certainly thought provoking
wish it went deeper
interpretive dance?
who did it
did they do it
is mason problematic
climax felt wrongly timed
I did though
enjoy it
and some day hope to see it staged
the success of the stage show must depend
on
how hot Carter is to make you
question everything

[charlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

★ six stars || so this is one of my favorite plays. and it’s a play that i read just before i realized i was trans, so it’s like a play where girl me safely lives? if that makes sense.

anyways, 6 stars. thanks kimberly bellflower for this play

[Cory B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would love to see performed; it's a good script that, if done well, could really shine. Makes some good points in an interesting way.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

should be required reading for the whole world