Goodman’s ‘John Proctor Is the Villain’ Challenges a Classroom Classic (Chicago, IL) — The students in Kimberly Belflower’s “John Proctor Is the Villain” are supposed to be studying “The Crucible.” Instead, the questions raised by their reading begin reaching into their own lives: Who deserves to be believed, whose reputation gets protected and how does someone become the hero of a story?
Those questions will come to Goodman Theatre this winter when Belflower’s play makes its Chicago premiere, running Jan. 23 through Feb. 21, 2027, in the Albert Theatre. Opening night is Feb. 1.
Marti Lyons will direct the production, returning to a play she helped introduce to audiences when she staged its 2022 world premiere at Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C. The Goodman staging is a co-production with the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.
Set at a high school in rural Georgia, the story follows five young women navigating adolescence and scandals in their small town while reconsidering the lessons of Arthur Miller’s drama about the Salem witch trials. Their English assignment becomes a way to question the adults around them and the interpretations they have been taught to accept.
The title makes the challenge explicit. John Proctor, often discussed as the tragic hero of Miller’s play, looks different to students whose own experiences complicate that reading. Belflower builds that debate into a coming-of-age story shaped by friendship, pop music and the effort to find a voice in a community where speaking up carries consequences.
For Lyons, revisiting the material means bringing several years of personal and artistic change to a story she still finds unsettlingly familiar.
“Almost five years after its world premiere, it feels like we’re living in a different world,” Lyons said. “Yet there’s still so much that’s relevant and unnervingly familiar in this story, so its importance remains.”
The production will mark her Goodman directing debut, though her connection to the theater dates to her time as its 2015 Michael Maggio Directing Fellow. Lyons is also artistic director of Chicago’s Remy Bumppo Theatre Company.
“I feel so much joy in getting to come back to the piece as a different artist and a different person,” she said.
The cast includes Mea Allen as Shelby Holcomb, Katherine Mallen Kupferer as Beth Powell, Felicia Oduh as Nell Shaw, Audrey Parker as Raelynn Nix and Ani Tonoyan as Ivy Watkins. They are joined by Kason Chesky as Mason Adams, Isabella Star LaBlanc as Bailey Gallagher, Jack Lancaster as Lee Turner and Daniel Petzold as Carter Smith.
Belflower, a playwright and educator from a small town in Appalachian Georgia, has watched the play move from its early development to regional stages and Broadway. Its 2025 Broadway production received seven Tony Award nominations, including best play.
The Chicago engagement arrives during a broader wave of productions. American Theatre magazine’s annual survey places “John Proctor Is the Villain” at the top of its most-produced plays list for the 2026-27 season, with 20 productions nationwide. The survey excludes Shakespeare’s works and adaptations of “A Christmas Carol.”
The Goodman creative team includes choreographer Erin Kilmurray, set designer Lex Liang, lighting designer Jason Lynch, costume designer Jessica Pabst and sound designer Melanie Chen Cole. Samantha Kaufman will oversee intimacy and violence, with voice and dialect work by Shadana Patterson.
Tickets, listed at $34 to $114, go on sale Nov. 6. Goodman Theatre is at 170 N. Dearborn St. Information and tickets are available at GoodmanTheatre.org or by calling 312-443-3800.
An American Sign Language-interpreted performance is scheduled for Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m. An audio-described performance will take place Feb. 13 at 2 p.m., preceded by a noon touch tour. Spanish subtitles will be offered Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m., and an open-captioned performance is scheduled for Feb. 14 at 2 p.m.
Goodman’s ‘John Proctor Is the Villain’ Challenges a Classroom Classic
