JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN is Coming to Mark Taper Forum

Center Theatre Group announces the cast and creative team for Kimberly Belflower's John Proctor is the Villain, the electrifying coming-of-age play that became one of Broadway's breakout hits of 2025. Directed by Jess McLeod, John Proctor is the Villain will perform at the Mark Taper Forum beginning Wednesday, March 17 and running through Sunday, April 25, 2027.  

In a one-stoplight town in Georgia, in a high school AP English class, five young women begin questioning the stories and the heroes they've been taught to believe in, against a soundtrack of pop music and fury. As their class dissects a canonical work of literature, the parallels between the play and their own lives become uncomfortably real, and they begin to re-examine who we deem heroic, who we call a villain, and who gets burned in the process.  

Centering young voices with humor, passion, and an unapologetically contemporary perspective, John Proctor is the Villain turns the lens of an American classic onto a new generation coming to terms with power, consent, friendship, and the stories society chooses to tell. In a bold artistic collaboration, three of the nation's leading regional theaters—Center Theatre Group, American Conservatory Theater, and Seattle Rep—join forces to bring Kimberly Belflower's explosive coming-of-age story to the West Coast.  

John Proctor is the Villain made its Broadway debut at the Booth Theatre in 2025, where its acclaimed run was extended three times. The production received seven Tony Award nominations, including Best Play, and also received the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Broadway Play. Having had engagements in San Francisco and Seattle, the production Will Close out its West Coast premiere at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. 
  
The cast of John Proctor is the Villain includes (in alphabetical order): Ameer Ali (Mason Adams), Stevie Allen (Ivy Watkins), Lilla Crawford (Shelby Holcomb), Varinique “V” Davis (Nell Shaw), Olivia Finkelstein (Beth Powell), Kyle Harris (Carter Smith), Mario Houle (Lee Turner), Kaylee Kaneshiro (Raelynn Nix), and Erika Vetter (Bailey Gallagher). 

 
The creative team for John Proctor is the Villain includes Kimberly Belflower (Playwright), Jess McLeod (Director), Leigh Rondon-Davis (Associate Director), Kate Noll (Scenic Designer), Eunice Jera Lee (Costume Designer), Robert J. Aguilar (Lighting Designer), Jeff Gardner (Sound Designer), Melissa Y. Hamasaki (Stage Manager), Jihee Jenny Park (Assistant Stage Manager),  Joy Meads (Dramaturg), and Henry Russell Bergstein, CSA and Lori Erickson, CSA, Austin Riffelmacher, and Shawna Grajek (Casting).