This past weekend I had the honor of attending the SUNY Cortland performing arts presentation of ‘John Proctor Is The Villain’ which was an amazingly heart-wrenching masterpiece that left the audience wanting more with not a single dry eye in the audience.
The show opens in a classroom where the class is analyzing ‘The Crucible’ with the discussion being led by the teacher Mr. Carter Smith who was played by Nicholas Webster. His students include Beth (played by Olivia Goodman), Ivy (played by Vivien Reed), Nell (played by Sidney Humes-James), Raelynn (played by Lia Dipasquale), Mason (played by Domenick Bierman), Lee (played by Xander Holden) and Shelby (played by Heather Hayes).
This production centered around very difficult subjects where we see the toll it takes on victims involved. The emotional rollercoaster of this play is indescribable from the fear of what Mr.Smith is going to do next, heartbreak for what he is putting these young women through, anger at how Mr.Smith is seeming to get away with it and overwhelming empathy.
I got the opportunity to talk to Heather Hayes about her role as Shelby, her favorite lines/scenes from the show and her overall experience being in ‘John Proctor is the Villain. “My favorite part about being Shelby was giving a voice to a situation that so many girls feel like they can’t express…On opening night is when it started to feel more real, seeing the audiences reactions and hearing their stores and experiences changed this show for me.’ said Hayes ‘I hope they know that because of reactions like that I feel safe being brave.”
Shelby is not included in the first few scenes due to reasons undisclosed in the beginning but we know the way in which she left resulted in all of her friendships becoming strained. In her absence her former friends Raelynn (who was Shelby’s closest friend), Beth, Ivy and Nell (who is a new student in school and did not know Shelby prior) reach out to their guidance counselor Ms.Gallagher (played by Jenevieve Young) to form a feminism club.
Despite initial pushback from the school, their club gets approved with the faculty sponsor being Mr.Smith, a seemingly good man who ends up representing John Proctor in terms of the production title. His students however adore him as he is the only adult to not treat them like children but what we find out later is that he was a major factor in Shelby’s prolonged absence.
Nicholas Webster, the actor who brought Mr.Smith to life noted how difficult this role was due to how the character of Carter Smith genuinely believes in his heart that he is a good person who has done nothing wrong. As an actor Webster said this made it harder to play because foreshadowing the events of the play too early would have ruined the storytelling element. To get in the headspace of playing such a complex character like Mr.Smith, Webster looked at similarities between him and John Proctor, using that to give us the amazing performance he delivered over the past weekend. By the end of each show you could see the audience have so much hate for Mr.Smith that they almost struggle to separate the actor from the character, showing how well Webster portrayed this difficult role.
When asked about her favorite scene Hayes favored the importance of scene 14 or as the audience would know it, the 711 scene. This scene was so beautiful, showing the healing of friendship between Shelby and Raelynn. Both women have a long history as best friends despite the animosity between them in the beginning of the show. After Shelby tells her class what Mr. Smith did to her/how he manipulated her, not many believe her, but Raelynn does.
The final scene of the play is by far the most impactful scene of theater I have ever seen with Shelby, alongside her best friend Raelynn do an interpretive dance to the song ‘Green Light’ by Lorde. In this dance the two convey the emotional toll being a sexual assault survivor has taken through their body language as well as guttural screams that leave the audience in tears.
When asked about her experience in this production, Lia Dipasquale, the actress who brought Raelynn to life, commented on how positive of an experience this production was, and how hearing the audiences feelings after the show made it all the more special for her.
“My favorite part of this production was definitely having the story come to life, and having some sort of impact on every single person that left that theater.” She then went on to add “We (referencing the cast) truly created a family that loves and supports each other. The laughs and cries we have shared together are simply unmatched. I will forever be grateful to be a part of this incredible show with the most talented people.” said Lia Dipasquale.
This show touched every single person who saw it and the efforts of the cast did not go unnoticed. The amount of talent in these cast members is unmatched making this show an incredible collaboration that I know I will never forget. In my opinion this show is one of the greatest productions SUNY Cortland has ever seen and if I could see it again 100 times I would not hesitate to do so.
“I think I’m probably gonna be super messed up for a really long time but I don’t know if I’m fully equipped to start that journey right now. I think that’ll kinda just come whenever it comes. So, yeah I dunno. I think we’re allowed to laugh” -Shelby Holcomb, scene 14