<\/p>\n
The scream begins as a ripple, starting with the most unlikely character first, and then crescendos from one teenage girl to the next, propelling them across the stage through sheer force of lung. Four voices rising and bodies contorting: aaaahAAAAAAHHHHH!<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a standout scene in \u201cJohn Proctor Is the Villain,\u201d<\/a> the hit Broadway dramedy<\/a> that revisits \u201cThe Crucible\u201d through the eyes of burgeoning feminist high school students. At some point, these girls have had enough: of social pressures, family dramas and especially of questionable male authority figures. The only thing left to do is vent at top volume.<\/p>\n \u201cThey scream so loud and for so long,\u201d the stage directions read, \u201cit\u2019s a lifetime of screams. It\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n Audience members laugh and applaud that moment \u2014 and they also start to cry, said Kimberly Belflower, who wrote the play. She gets it.<\/p>\n \u201cTeenage girls are so monitored and observed and objectified and are expected to be a certain thing,\u201d Belflower, 38, said. \u201cIt\u2019s a lose-lose in a lot of ways. So just having the opportunity to let go of that, and be, like, ugly and loud \u2014 it opens something up.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201cJohn Proctor\u201d shriekathon is the latest in a wave of young women and girls letting their pipes loose, on stages and in rock clubs, across arenas and on screens \u2014 and exhorting anyone to join in. \u201cRight now, I want you to think about something or someone that just really pisses you off,\u201d Olivia Rodrigo<\/a> directed the cheering crowds during her Guts World Tour. \u201cAnd when the lights go down, you\u2019re gonna scream as loud as you can, and let it all out.\u201d<\/p>\n