Two words aptly describe the UE Theater’s production of John Proctor is the Villain: provoking and passionate. Out of the five plays set to be on the University of Evansville’s stage this school year, John Proctor is the 2nd in the lineup. Written in 2017 by Kimberely Bellflower, this play follows a group of high school students discussing The Crucible, a play read by many students, and finding that the difficult themes presented in it apply to their own lives.
The Crucible is a play focusing on the tragic Salem Witch Trials and a farmer named John Proctor. The work contains depictions of unjust, patriarchal power and sexual control, both of which contribute to the predicaments of the students in John Proctor is the Villain. The UE theater program with director Evelyn Hipp, a senior Theater Studies major, chose this play for its combination of the past and present. With ties to both the classic Crucible and the high school experiences that many college students have gone through, this play will be sure to provoke discussion and promote change on campus.
Hipp, the director of John Proctor, was kind enough to sit down for an interview about her school career and her debut play. She is a passionate theater expert, and her responses were very reflective of that.
“I liked theater until COVID hit and then I couldn’t do it anymore, and that’s when I realized how much I missed it. I always found joy in it and it’s always been a safe space for me as an individual to express myself. Not being ashamed of what I make and what I want to do, and I’m happy; I’d be happy doing it the rest of my life… I really fell in love with the community and how tight it is. You really make some great connections in the theater world. We have a lot of guest artists come in, and our faculty are really accomplished individuals who have made a great career for themselves. The students here also really care about their work and they’re all vigorous. They’re always in shops or in rehearsals and they’re always working. We also have a pretty good job placement rate out of school which is something that really interested me because it’s hard to find a job in theater.”
“Usually we [UE Theater] select two students to direct a show in the May studio theater and that’s usually somebody who has a theater studies or a directing emphasis. When I applied, I initially pitched a musical to direct, I was just like, I’m just gonna go for the craziest thing I can pitch and then they’ll tell me to take it down a notch if they need me to. Once I was selected, my process was over the summer before I started directing. My professor kept sending me material and I also kept looking at material everywhere. My faculty advisor Wes sent me John Proctor the Villain and I followed up on the script and I said this is the one.
“What I really like about John Proctor is the Villain is that it turns what I have been taught…that John Proctor is this wonderful, transcendent, amazing person, one of the most amazing men, even though the way I always viewed it as a kid was that he drove some girl to madness. It was just a perspective that I had never seen explored. This play does a great job of addressing how we, especially women, think in a patriarchal world and the power that men hold in our society. It has a lot of really great themes about the issues of sexual abuse and power dynamics and our reactions to it. I also like the language. The writer, Bellflower, is really brilliant. She breaks up the text, and it’s almost like reading Shakespeare, but if it were spoken by really awkward teenagers…It’s my hope that people will come into the play and immediately connect to the universal American high school experience of what it’s like being a teenager. The play also takes place during the Me-Too movement, and I hope that people will take some of the core values from that movement in time and hold it with them as they see this play.”
“If you have ever heard of The Crucible, have ever been interested in different perspectives on the play, or if you had an awkward experience in high school, you will absolutely relate to John Proctor is the Villain. Additionally, if you’re somebody who really cares about the rights and power of women, and the struggles of living in a patriarchal society, if that’s something you are really passionate about, I definitely encourage you to see this play…It does a great job of acknowledging our reactions to issues of sexism and sexual abuse.”
” I love to design, I love to direct, and I love to teach so really if I’m creatively fulfilled and creating something worthwhile, and being able to live off of the money that I make, then I’ll be happy. I’m really just letting Jesus take the wheel. I know that I came here fully expecting to know what I want to do, and I kind of still don’t, but I feel like that’s the beauty of art; you never really know, it just comes to you.”
With a dramatic blend of old prose and modern issues, John Proctor will be a spectacle worth witnessing and one that will promote healthy debate around the topics of the Me-too movement. With a new resurgence of the play, starring Stranger Things star Sadie Sink, announced for Broadway in 2025, this play is a modern classic that is as important in 2018 as it is now.
John Proctor is the Villain and will run from November 21st to the 24th in May Studio.
To find more information visit the UE Theatre website.
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