A play that took Broadway by storm has arrived in Salt Lake City, but not on the stage anyone originally planned. Pioneer Theatre Company's production of Kimberly Belflower's John Proctor Is the Villain opened Friday, kicking off the company's 65th anniversary season with a story about teenage girls rewriting the rules and reclaiming their own stories.
The show is playing at a new, intimate theater at Westminster Performing Arts, according to FOX 13 News Utah. The relocation traces back to an indoor sprinkler failure in August that flooded three floors of the Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre, including the main stage and orchestra pit, as reported by Gephardt Daily. The water damage struck the University of Utah campus venue just weeks before the 65th season was set to launch, forcing Pioneer Theatre Company to find a temporary home at the Jay W. Lees Courage Theater.
From Broadway Buzz to a Borrowed Stage
John Proctor Is the Villain arrives in Utah carrying serious pedigree. The play premiered on Broadway at the Booth Theatre in April 2025, starring Stranger Things actress Sadie Sink and directed by Danya Taymor, and it went on to earn seven 2025 Tony Award nominations, including Best Play and Best Leading Actress in a Play, per Broadway World's Tony Awards coverage. The Broadway run wrapped in September 2025, but the play was voted a New York Times Critics' Pick along the way, and it has already had limited availability or sold-out tickets during its first weeks in Salt Lake City.
The story follows five teenage girls. Playwright Kimberly Belflower has worked with The Farm Theater, and the play had a 2022 Studio Theatre production.
A Milestone Season for Utah's Oldest Regional Theater
The production marks the start of Pioneer Theatre Company's 65th anniversary season, a milestone for the company. This year's slate includes six productions total.
Onstage, the production leans into its teenage-girl-power themes through sound as much as story. Students' earbuds are filled with contemporary pop anthems, underscoring the emotional intensity and inner lives of the teenage characters.
Extended Run and Ticket Deals for Local Theatergoers
John Proctor Is the Villain began its Salt Lake City run on September 11 and was originally slated to run through September 26, but Pioneer Theatre Company extended the show through October 3 by popular demand. Best seat availability is expected to open up between September 26 and October 3 for those still hoping to catch it.
For local theatergoers worried about cost, PTC introduced a Curtain Call for All initiative for this engagement, making a select number of name-your-own-price tickets starting at $15 available for every performance. Readers can also use the discount code theplace10 for 10 percent off at pioneertheatre.org. University of Utah students get an even steeper deal: through the school's Arts Pass program, current students can buy $5 tickets, while faculty and staff receive a 50 percent discount, according to Fine Arts at the University of Utah.
A Story Still Growing Beyond the Stage
The play's momentum shows no signs of slowing. Following its Broadway run, John Proctor Is the Villain's next chapter remains unwritten. The available coverage does not detail a feature-film adaptation or any related casting or producing plans.
For Salt Lake City audiences, though, the story right now is as much about resilience offstage as onstage. A flood that soaked three floors of PTC's home theater weeks before opening night could have derailed the 65th season entirely. Instead, the company found a new stage, kept its opening date, and is now extending a sold-out hit by popular demand.
