Kimberly Belflower's John Proctor Is the Villain, a 2025 Tony nominee for Best Play, gets its West Coast premiere at American Conservatory Theater. It runs Nov. 12 through Dec. 6 at the Toni Rembe Theater, 415 Geary St.
The play
In a one-stoplight Georgia town, an AP English class studies Arthur Miller's The Crucible. As they do, five young women start questioning the heroes they've been taught to admire, and the play's parallels with their own lives become uncomfortably real. A.C.T. describes it as playing out "against a soundtrack of pop music and fury." Seattle Rep sums it up as "Classic lit. New receipts."
One production, three cities
The new production is a co-production of A.C.T., Seattle Rep and Los Angeles' Center Theatre Group, directed by Jess McLeod. After San Francisco, it moves to Seattle Rep's Bagley Wright Theater from Jan. 21 to Feb. 21, 2027. The cast includes Ameer Ali, Stevie Allen, Lilla Crawford, Varinique V. Davis, Olivia Finkelstein, Kyle Harris, Mario Houle, Kaylee Kaneshiro and Erika Vetter. In an A.C.T. statement, Belflower said she was "over the moon" to bring the play west after runs in Washington, D.C., Boston, on Broadway and at colleges.
Before you go
A.C.T. lists a running time of about 1 hour 45 minutes with no intermission. The theater warns that the play deals with sexual assault, power imbalances and mental health, and includes strong language and brief staged violence. Tickets are sold through A.C.T.'s website and box office.