Fina Strazza Thinks Taylor Swift Would Love John Proctor Is The Villain

Fina Strazza is only 19, but she’s hardly a Broadway newbie. When she was 8 years old, she made her Great White Way debut as the titular role in Matilda — and now, the actor is back on Shubert Alley in the new play John Proctor Is the Villain, steps from where it all began, and where an entirely new fan base is discovering her.

“Every night, I have at least 10 girls least say to me, ‘I was Beth in high school,’ or, ‘I am Beth now,’” Strazza tells Bustle. “It’s overwhelming how many young people are always at the stage door, because theater can be this older crowd, particularly plays.”

Strazza stars in the Kimberly Belflower play alongside Sadie Sink and a cast of Gen Z actors as small-town Georgia students who read The Crucible in English class and come to question its cultural context as eerily similar and dark situations unfold in their own lives. Not only did the show net seven Tony nominations, with Strazza receiving a nod for Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Play, but it’s also the rare Broadway production that resonates with today’s youth.

“It’s very easy to find works where teenagers talk in this weird, disjointed, unintelligent way, and all their problems are seen as trivial,” she says. “The amount of auditions I’ve done for a teenager who’s angry, mean, and misunderstood... that’s just the way teenage girls are seen. Being 17 and reading the play, I felt like I was being understood.”

Strazza’s character, Beth Powell, is perhaps the most sheltered of her classmates and sees the best in everyone, including her English teacher. It turns out to be a misguided judge of character. “[Belflower and I] were saying that Beth’s first heartbreak is realizing that she can’t trust this teacher that she loves so much,” she says.

The play ends with a cathartic dance to Lorde’s seminal hit “Green Light,” which serves as a protest of sorts that Beth is hesitant to join until the last second. “When she stands, I don’t think she’s going to start dancing, but I think she does stand with the intent of supporting the girls,” adds Strazza. “That split second is this culmination of everything that our show is being recognized for.”

Lorde plays such a big part in the show that the cast treats her as a guest. “Every night we joke that we’re doing the show for Lorde, because we like to pretend that she’s there and can’t stop coming back,” Strazza says. But John Proctor is also a show made for Swifties, with Beth and her friends joyously incorporating Taylor Swift’s defining lyrics into their daily convos. Swift has yet to see the show, but Strazza has high hopes: “I hope she likes it,” she says. “I think she would.”

On her Tony nomination:

I was completely flabbergasted. I’ve grown up in New York City, and theater and the Tonys have always just been everything to me. My greatest pop hits as a kid were the Tonys opening numbers. That’s what my sister and I watched and grew up on.

On celebrity audience members:

Whenever celebrities come, they sign our lockers on stage and become part of Helen County High. The biggest one was Gloria Steinem — she came to the show the other night and signed our lockers. And Jodie Foster, Andrew Garfield, Anna Wintour — there’s been some really cool people coming by.

On getting into character:

I put on my overalls that I start the show in. There’s something very structured and put together about them, but also kind of cute that makes me feel very Beth. I often end up doing my hair three times. I’ll take it out and then redo it. I need it to be perfect. I feel like that aligns with what Beth would do as well. That makes me feel the most locked in. Once the socks and shoes go on, Beth is here.

On her dressing-room staples:

Amalia [Yoo] and I share a dressing room. We eat trail mix all the time and say, “I wish there weren’t so many raisins... there’s got to be somewhere you can make a custom trail mix.” We ordered a 2-pound bag. It was $50, but worth it. We have an essential oil diffuser, and everyone always comes into our dressing room like, “Wow, it smells amazing in here.” We want it to feel like an oasis.

On her pre-show superstitions:

I’m very superstitious. I don’t like to drink water beforehand — don’t tell my voice and dialect coach — but I’m always convinced that I’m going to have to pee during the show. We do this little group check-in right before the show where we talk about what we’re excited for, what we’re grateful for, and then we gasp together to get ready for our reactions in the classroom scenes. Twice, we haven’t done that, and I got really freaked out, like, “OK, the show is ruined.”