The Farm Theater’s Artistic Director, Padraic Lillis, explains the journey of Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor is the Villain from the College Collaboration to Broadway. In conversation with Editor Marcina Zaccaria.
MARCINA ZACCARIA: How did the play John Proctor is the Villain go from The Farm’s Play Lab all the way to Broadway?
PADRAIC LILLIS: At the College Collab, a Playwright writes a play that three colleges will develop over an academic year. What we are looking for is the Playwright who has unique voice, can write for young people, because we want them to be 30 and under, so that undergraduates can successfully play the part.
What’s most important is what do they have to say that we want to be in conversation through the development of these new plays . . . Kimberly, I think, may have been the 5th of the College Collab, and we have opened it up with an invitation to have former writers recommended people. So, I didn’t know Kimberly before she showed up on an interview on Zoom, and she was the last interview of the day.
She has a very inviting, great personality and we wanted to work with her. To my credit, I didn’t look up what her idea was, because I remember her first idea I was not excited about.
Scott Illingworth, who interviews writers with me for the program, and I just said – do you have anything else, and she said I don’t know what the play is yet, but I have a title, and the title was John Proctor is the Villain.
It was at the height of the “Me Too” movement. It’s 2018 – 2017, somewhere around there, when we were interviewing, it immediately hit me, and I thought, that’s great.
She wrote the first draft for a three-day workshop in New York, and then it went to Centre College, Rollins College, and Furman University, and then showcased in New York .
I totally modeled its rolling development, sort of like the national nuclear networks rolling premiere model that I borrowed, so I got the development of those production.
Then, it came to New York and this is where I want to be. I know that it went to Ojai Playwrights Conference, right after the College Collaboration project, and then I believe, from what I’ve heard from Kimberly and read, the play went to, like 75 colleges, which is sort of what would have been the dream. She was supposed to have three regional productions before the pandemic, and they got cancelled because of the pandemic, which was sad.
Because the play is great, it ended up getting done it all these colleges. It sort of got its own word of mouth going. Then, it was done in DC at the Studio Theatre. Then, it was done at the Huntington, and then, what you know. I don’t know the exact history, but I know that Sadie Sink was looking for a play .
MZ: Amazing. So, if I’m counting the years, it sounds like it was 2018 – 2025. Those were the years of development that it took to go from an idea, a title on the page, to a Broadway production.
PL: Yes. 2018 was the beginning of writing, and you know, and it’s funny. You think the pandemic did it slow it down because it didn’t have three regional productions. The expanse of its college reputation did give it time. Because all the things came together for the Director and this name Actor, and the play to be ready. You know, it took seven years.
MZ: As you saw all of this going on, how did your role change as Kimberly Belflower’s work gained in popularity?
PL: I think I am a sounding board and creating an environment for the point to be developed and asking questions and listening and encouraging and kind creating the environment for the support to happen.
MZ: As the Artistic Director of The Farm Theater, what’s it like raising the next generation of writers?
PL: I’m very proud of all of the writers that come through The Farm. I’m very proud of the Writers to come through The Farm. What I’d like to say is that we you know we’re cultivating early career artists .
I really like recognizing people’s talent and creating a safe space for them to grow and having been doing it now for 12 years. I am proud to see the growth.
A couple of writers that did the College Collaboration project – Lia Romeo just had an Off-Broadway production of her play, Still – Jake Brasch has three regional theater productions of this play, The Reservoir – Alex Riad, who was the first Farm Theater Playwriting Fellow. All three writers, after engaging with The Farm went to the Juilliard Writing Program.
And, obviously Kimberly’s play. I like to say that what I want to do is create support and nurture in the College Collab. The goal is to get writers a foundation so they could take the next step in their career.
Kimberly Belflower and Padraic Lillis with Maegan McNerney Azar, Director of Furman production, Caroline Jane, Associate Professor at Furman.
MZ: What do you tell Playwrights like Kimberly about working with Designers?
PL: Listen to the questions that they’re asking.
They need to give their voice into what’s important about this particular play, or how they saw it or seeing the quality or design, and to remain open.
It’s a deeper commitment to listening to the Playwright . . . One of my first conversations, I always say trust that I read the play, trust that I understood the play, trust that I liked the play so that I can then ask them what sounds like obvious questions.
I want to hear them talk about the world of the play, so that I’m making sure that I’m entering the play with an understanding of their mindset of their perspective of their worldview.
MZ: If there’s one way to win in a collaborative relationship between a Playwright and Director, what is it?
PL: When you’re directing in a rehearsal room, our job is to create a really safe environment because I want the Actor to be able to play full out. I want the Playwright to know that as the Director I’m watching. They’re safe. They’re safe physically, they’re safe emotionally – whatever they want to do, so that they can go for it, 100%.
They can try things without judgment. They can make cuts. They can try things with the safety of exploration. So, you want it to be a safe place so that the drama and the conflict and the game is being played out in the scene, not in the room. I think that’s important. And when I think about collaboration between Writer and Director, I think a winning collaboration is built on listening and trust – trust in both people, that they share. You want to make certain that you are sharing, not vision, but the idea of what is important in what the play is, where the heart of the play is.
If you’re doing it from shared investment in the heart of the play, you know that it’s not ego that is dictating this. Or you want to make a moment work to your satisfaction.
You want to make it work to the play’s satisfaction, and so, I think it’s more about a winning combination.
I’d be nervous to think about collaboration and thinking that one and one lost. I think you’re both going towards a goal, a shared vision, and repeating this thing about protecting – that you both care about the heart of the play. And you know that the Playwright cares about the heart of the play, they wrote it.
I want to say one other thing that’s on my mind which is trusting. If you don’t know why something’s important, to allow yourself to trust that it is until it isn’t. I think sometimes we’re looking for logic and just trust. It’s having a trust with each other.
In working with new plays, allowing to live in the unknown for a little bit longer.
MZ: You’ve probably thought about this a lot, as the Artistic Director of The Farm, how is being a Director different than being a Baseball Coach?
PL: Well, a Director is Artistic. I think they are the same, similar. I want to say directing is directing. You’re trying to create rules of a world that didn’t exist before.
You’re trying to get everyone to play with the same understanding, each person understanding their unique support of the goal of the game. As I think about directing more and more, I think you’re constantly setting an agenda, and you’re really looking at what each individual needs. I think some people need a question that might open them up to something.
MZ: How many shows do you see a month?
PL: I see probably 12 plays a month. I might see more. I teach a class in the Fall where I take students to plays once a week, and I thought I was seeing less plays than I was.
MZ: How many plays do your read on the page each month?
PL: I’m going to give the answer –I read probably a play day, so I probably read somewhere between 25 to 30 a month. The play may be, you know, maybe something in a full draft. Somebody said to consider, maybe 30 pages of a new draft by a Writer . . . they vary in length and size, but I definitely read a play.
Truthfully, I don’t know many years ago when I was doing the Drama League Directors Project. We met with Tim Sanford, when he was the Literary Manager at Playwrights Horizons before the Artistic Director, and he said he reads the play in the morning every day. I remember thinking, like, I could do that.
Showcase Reading of JPITV in NYC. Photo: Padraic Lillis.
MZ: What do you think makes a great play last over time?
PL: When the Writer gets to an emotional truth . I think when they get to a truth that reveals something that resonates with us as something that’s true. They get to the core of an issue, the core of a person’s need or want. And when it resonates with us, yes, it changes our view of the world and a view of ourselves and has a better understanding.
Going back to my when I was thinking about the sports and the metaphor, when I think about conflict. Getting to the truth – the emotional truth and understanding. I think emotion more than ideology. It resonates with us is how we feel.
I can understand that we can be in conflict, I have an emotional connection to both sides of an emotional argument. I not only resonate and feel seen, then I have a better understanding of the person whose thought was in opposition of me.
I think when those things happen, that’s when a play last for a long time.
Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor is the Villain begins its Broadway run on March 20, 2025.
This post was written by the author in their personal capacity.The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of The Theatre Times, their staff or collaborators.
This post was written by Marcina Zaccaria.
The views expressed here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect our views and opinions.
