John Proctor is the Villain Playwright Kimberly Belflower and Director Danya Taymor Are Taking Teen Girls Seriously

Director Danya Taymor, who won a Tony last year for her direction of The Outsiders, has spent quite a bit of time being in touch with her inner teenager on Broadway. The new play John Proctor is the Villain, starring Sadie Sink, marks two Broadway shows in a row centering angsty adolescents: sweaty, violent young men last year; intellectually curious young women in English class this year.

“It’s been a gift to work on two sides of the same coin this past year,” she told The Broadway Show. “Working with young people in general is a gift. Stories about young people are so powerful and resonate so much with audiences because young people are raw, vulnerable. We become who we're going to be when we're teenagers.”

In writing the play, playwright Kimberly Belflower had an objective. “I just always want people to take teenage girls seriously, and to take young adults seriously, and to listen to what they have to say, and to recognize that they're smart, even if they say ‘like’ a lot. Especially if they say ‘like’ a lot.”

Check out the video below for more.