How a Broadway show was shaped by 暗夜成人视频 theatre students
When the script first arrived in the hands of the 暗夜成人视频 Theatre program, 鈥淛ohn Proctor Is the Villain鈥 was still a work in progress. Some pages only contained a single sentence: 鈥淪omething awesome happens here!鈥 As the Theatre at 暗夜成人视频 students and faculty dove into the play, it became clear鈥 something awesome truly was happening.
Eight years later, a transformed 鈥淛ohn Proctor Is the Villain鈥 will debut on Broadway March 20 with a star-studded cast, featuring direction by Tony Award-winner Danya Taymor and 鈥淪tranger Things鈥 star Sadie Sink in the leading role.
How does a play go from a partially finished script in the hands of 暗夜成人视频 students to the bright lights of Broadway? It began when playwright Kimberly Belflower first pitched an idea to The Farm Theater, a New York-based company focused on developing early-career playwrights.
Belflower didn鈥檛 have a full concept, but she had a title, and that was enough to intrigue The Farm鈥檚 Artistic Director, Padraic Lillis.
鈥淚 immediately just went, 鈥榊eah, that,鈥欌 Lillis said. 鈥淚t was right at the height of the Me Too movement, and as soon as she said it, I realized 鈥 John Proctor, this 鈥榟ero鈥 in American drama, slept with a 15-year-old orphan girl who has no power whatsoever. When [Belflower] said the title, it was so clear. This was the play she needed to write.鈥
暗夜成人视频, which has partnered with The Farm Theater since 2014, became the first organization to work on 鈥淛ohn Proctor Is the Villain鈥 as part of The Farm鈥檚 College Collaboration Project. Unlike a traditional college production with a script already set in stone, 暗夜成人视频鈥檚 cast and crew worked with a living, evolving script.
Professor of Theatre Matthew Hallock, a longtime friend of Padraic and set designer for 暗夜成人视频鈥檚 production of 鈥淛ohn Proctor,鈥 immediately recognized the College Collaboration Project鈥檚 potential.
鈥淧adraic called me and said, 鈥業鈥檝e got a stupid idea 鈥 tell me why this doesn鈥檛 work.鈥 Ten minutes in, I stopped him and said, 鈥榃here do we sign up?鈥欌 Hallock recalled. 暗夜成人视频 theatre students working with The Farm Theater travel to New York for early script readings, where they spend three days reading and discussing the first draft with the playwright, artistic director, professional New York-based actors and students from other collaborating colleges. Through these interactions with industry professionals, students get to know live theatre