FIU Theatre students find their voice in “John Proctor is the Villain”

High school is that messy in-between – you’re not quite an adult, but the world doesn’t wait. When a scandal rocks your town, the lines between childhood and adulthood blur fast. Suddenly, growing up isn’t a choice – it’s a demand, and the stakes have never been higher.

This is the very conflict at the heart of FIU Theatre’s first production of the 2024-25 season. Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor is the Villain, running September 27 through October 6 at The Wertheim, is a gripping story of awakening, courage and speaking truth to power.

The story unfolds in Mr. Smith’s English lit class at Helen County High, the only high school in a one-stoplight town in northeast Georgia. As the students study Arthur Miller’s The Crucible — a play about the Salem witch trials — a real-life scandal erupts in their tight-knit community: allegations of sexual assault against prominent local men. It’s the kind of town where everyone knows each other, and one of the accused is the father of a student in the class. As the students dig deeper into Miller’s tale of hysteria and accusation, the scandal outside their classroom begins to mirror the drama on the page.

As the truth unravels, the girls in the class start to question the accepted interpretation of The Crucible, seeing new parallels to their own lives. In the process, they discover their own voices — finding the courage to challenge not just the history in the play, but the real-world injustices shaping their present. The play becomes more than just an assignment; it’s a reflection of their growing awareness and power.

As with most great theater, the play’s relevance extends far beyond the fictional classroom. “These characters face the same pressures and problems that FIU students face,” says the play’s director, Michael Yawney. “When we started working on this show, the student designers and cast started telling me how much the script mirrored their own experience. So, they took the lead in interpreting this work and together we made a show that, I hope, any FIU student can relate to.”

For Kailee Larmon, a BFA musical theater junior who plays Shelby, the play has sparked reflections on her own high school experience. “I was very silent in class,” she says. “I didn’t want people to look at me and judge me and have opinions about me.”

The play has helped her find her own voice and power. “I think as young women, it’s easy to hear older people, specifically men, tell us that our interests and opinions should be pushed down. The characters in this play find the courage to speak up about what they think, and that is very empowering.”

Kayla Urra, a sophomore theater major who plays Ivy, also finds great value in the play. “This play excites me with how realistic it is, which makes it powerful and uncomfortable.”

The student actors spent weeks rehearsing the play every night after a full day of classes – beginning the process a week before the semester officially kicked off. Working on the show made them appreciate that they are part of a much larger world.

“Sometimes, we can get so caught up in school that we forget to check in with ourselves and look at what’s going on in the world around us and how we can make a change,” says Urra. “There’s no time like the present for a play like this that openly displays and tackles important topics that a lot of people may disregard or overlook.”