All the times Sadie Sink did theatre
The Stranger Things star returns to Broadway for the first time in a decade to headline John Proctor Is the Villain, a new play by Kimberly Belflower.
Stranger Things star Sadie Sink is no stranger to Broadway, where sheβs acted twice before. On March 20, the versatile 22-year-old actress known from stage, screen, and Taylor Swiftβs βAll Too Well (10 Minute Version)β music video, begins her run in John Proctor Is the Villain.
Written by Kimberly Belflower, who makes her Broadway debut, the contemporary play about societal power dynamics in the #MeToo era focuses on high school students finding their own voices while studying β and questioning β Arthur Millerβs famous drama The Crucible.
Danya Taymor, a 2024 Tony Award winner for directing The Outsiders, will stage the play at the Booth Theatre. Before the show begins, learn more about Sinkβs theatre and theatre-adjacent credits β and then be sure to watch her return to her roots in John Proctor Is the Villain.
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The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Keen on the performing arts as a child growing up in Houston, Sink got involved in acting classes and community theatre productions early on. At age 7, she was in a 2009 production of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
βI was in the baby angel ensemble and I only had one line, so I was kind of just standing there,β she told Vogue. βBut I remember loving it like nothing else.β A year later, she took on a role in The Secret Garden.
White Christmas
In 2011, at age 9, Sink played the role of Susan Waverly, a retired generalβs granddaughter in the holiday musical White Christmas with Houston's Theatre Under the Stars. A year later, she took on the title role of a rags-to-riches orphan, belting anthems like βTomorrow,β in the musical Annie at the same venue.
Annie
Sink parlayed her regional run as Annie into her Broadway debut in the 2012 revival of the show by Thomas Meehan (book), Charles Strouse (music), and Martin Charnin (lyrics). Sink stood by for the title role and a few of the other orphans before eventually taking over as the Annie alternate in 2013.
The Audience
As Sinkβs screen career took off with TV roles in such series as The Americans, Blue Bloods, and American Odyssey, she continued to pursue theatre. In 2015, she played the role of a young Queen Elizabeth in Peter Morganβs The Audience, a drama about the modern-day monarchy starring Helen Mirren. New York Theatre Guideβs review praised Sinkβs βgrace and skill.β
Stranger Things
Sinkβs breakthrough role was the bold and resilient Max Mayfield in Stranger Things, the Netflix sci-fi series created by the Duffer Brothers that debuted in 2016. The fifth and final season is set for 2025.
As Sink returns to Broadway in the spring, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a play written by Kate Trefry from an original story by the Duffers, Jack Thorne, and Trefry, arrives there, too. A prequel to the events of the TV series, the play was a 2023 hit in Londonβs West End. The Broadway production begins March 28 at the Marquis Theatre.
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The Whale
Playwright Samuel D. Hunterβs The Whale is a poignant 2012 drama about grief, love, and self-worth. It follows Charlie, a reclusive, morbidly obese man seeking to reconnect with his estranged daughter, Ellie. Adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Brendan Fraser and directed by Darren Aronofsky, it debuted in 2022. As Ellie, Sink had βgenuinely moving moments,β The Hollywood Reporter's critic praised.
John Proctor Is the Villain
Set at a rural Georgia high school, the comedy play uses The Crucible, about the Salem Witch Trials, as a jumping-off point for a meditation on changing perspectives. A group of students reading the play in English class are more preoccupied with their own social and romantic lives, but questioning whether John Proctor is the show's hero helps them shape their own ever-changing points of view.
The play made its world premiere at D.C.βs Studio Theatre in 2022 and ran at Huntington Theatre in Boston in early 2024. Broadway performances start March 20, with Sink's co-stars to be announced.
Get John Proctor Is the Villain tickets now.
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