logo
'Growing Pains' star Tracey Gold says TV mom Joanna Kerns helped save her life during anorexia battle

'Growing Pains' star Tracey Gold says TV mom Joanna Kerns helped save her life during anorexia battle

Fox News28-01-2025

As her character Carol Seaver on television's, "Growing Pains" dealt with the perils of adolescence, actress Tracey Gold struggled with her own problem: a debilitating eating disorder.
The studio's actions - which included asking her to lose weight and subsequently gain some back, as well as writing jokes about her weight into the show - made it difficult for Gold to separate herself from her character. However, in the same way art influenced reality, Gold says it was her TV mother, Joanna Kerns, who would ultimately look out for her, pressuring the crew to help get her healthy.
After three seasons, Gold noticed the writing on the show "became a little edgier," as the program angled to "be funnier" and "stay on top."
"Unfortunately, I think in that time it became at my expense, and it became because they started to have Mike Seaver make fat jokes about Carol Seaver," she said of Kirk Cameron's character, who played Gold's older brother on the show, during an episode of the late Shannen Doherty's podcast, "Let's Be Clear."
A member of the cast, but only a child, Gold said she felt she did not have much say in the direction of her character. "One thing you have to know about being a child actor. I always say this when I talk to kids who want to be child actors, I'm like, you have to be the best person on that set. You watch the adults messing up. You watch the adults, you know, laughing, forgetting their lines. They are allowed to do that. You, as a child actor, you need to get there. You need to know your lines. You shut your mouth and you do your job," she explained.
"The ambiance on a set is that way. So when these jokes would come in, I really had no voice, so I would sort of just be like, I don't think I'm allowed to say anything. But I had power, a little bit, because Carol Seaver was all of a sudden, she was mine and I had created her and I was known for her, so all of a sudden I also felt protective of her a little bit."
Gold said at the time, she was not hyper-fixated on her weight, so jokes were easier to accept, although after going on hiatus one summer, things changed. "I came [back with] the freshman 15 basically, and then the jokes accelerated when I came back and became meaner," she recalled. "It was out of my character to speak up, but it was hurting me, and I was sensitive to it. And I knew I had gained a little bit of weight, and I had never had that problem before."
Although she had struggled in the past with disordered eating, the catalyst then had been different. "It was about staying childlike, you know, scared of hitting puberty."
Gold found herself negotiating with the crew, many of whom were men. "Whether I like it or not. The set did have an element of misogyny to it because they're always bringing in the beautiful actress of the week … a few years older than me and coming in and, you know, dolling them up and sexualizing that and all of those things," she said. "It was a boys club. It really was a boys club."
"They would say, you don't have any brothers, so you don't know what this is like. This is what brothers and sisters do to each other," said Gold, who grew up with four sisters. Although the jokes continued to hurt, "It'd be like a joke like, 'Here comes wide load.' And you're not talking just about Carol anymore. You're talking about me, Tracey Gold. And now I have to be in front of an audience that's laughing at me and my body and my weight."
The studio eventually called Gold's father, who was her agent, and requested she lose weight.
"That was a blow," Gold said, who would end up on a 500 calorie diet. "So within a month I had lost 20 pounds. Easily," she said. "I did it and I did it quietly, and I didn't tell anyone I was doing it. I just went and did it. And all of a sudden, everybody's coming up to me on the set, you know, everywhere, kind of going, 'Oh my god, you look so good, you look so beautiful, you look so amazing.'"
"At that time, I think everybody … meant well, but in my view of it, it was like, was I that embarrassing before? Was I absolutely kidding myself that I could go on National TV, be Carol Seaver, and I really was that person they were saying those jokes about?"
Things then shifted - for the worse. "Something hit me, and I'm like, 'I will not be the butt of anybody's joke again,'" she said.
The actress would go days without eating.
"I would make negotiations with myself. But as I'm doing this, I'm getting lower and lower and lower and lower in weight. But you know, you're in Hollywood, and everybody just kept giving me compliments. And it was making [my then-boyfriend] furious that everybody was complimenting me because he knew I was sick," she said of her husband Roby Marshall, whom she was introduced to by Kerns. The couple married in 1994, two years after the show ended.
Her weight influenced the show. "And then all of a sudden, the jokes came about Carol's working out. Carol becomes homecoming queen."
"It reinforces….that like having like 10, 15 extra pounds on you when you're 18 and figuring it out is really just bad. And it put me into a tailspin that I just found I couldn't get out of. You know, people asked me, did I think it was a cry for help? No, I don't. I think it was a really internal thing. I don't think I wanted help at that point. I wanted to keep myself safe and protected. It was a self-coping mechanism to keep myself safe," she explained.
"I became very, very, very self-protective of myself and I kept continuing to lose weight. And I remember - and it was the irony of all ironies - they basically said to me, they called my dad once again, this is a few months later, and they say, 'We need Tracey to gain weight. She's getting too thin on camera. She's looking not healthy.'"
Although she tried to get healthy, Gold said it was too late.
"I had taken to throwing up and stuff," she admitted. "I remember [Marshall] came one day to my dressing room and he nailed the bathroom door shut. He went to the prop department … He's like, 'I need a nail and hammer' … And they're like, 'Why?' And he's like, 'I'm gonna nail Tracey's bathroom shut.' And they're like, 'Thank you. Thank you for looking after her. We're so worried about her.'"
At one point, Gold went on vacation with Marshall to Florida, and the expectation on set was she would return healthier. "He thought he could take me out of California or Los Angeles and I could suddenly eat. But I couldn't," she said. Unfortunately, she contracted bronchitis and lost even more weight. A doctor ended up coming to the set and sending her home.
"I'm like, OK, that's fine, I'm sick. I don't feel like being there anyway," she said of being sent home. "And they're like, she needs to go somewhere before she comes back on the set. And I didn't know, till years later, but it was Joanna Kerns, god bless her…she called the studio and she said, this girl's gonna die on your watch if you don't step in and do something. And something was done."
Kerns did not immediately return Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Gold said - without any help from the show - she found an in-patient program that was all about "tough love," although she would sign herself out against doctor's advice days later. "I took a cab home, against anybody's advice. The only person that would speak to me from a pay phone was my husband. Everybody else would hang up on me because they were told to hang up. I mean they thought they were doing the right thing. And I took a week to find the right doctor. And I go to doctors, I tell them what I was going through and, because it was so public, it was like living in a fishbowl. And it broke the news and everything like that," she said of her health becoming tabloid fodder.
Eventually, she found UCLA's Eating Disorder Institute, where she was able to receive out-patient treatment. "I started to find my voice, and that is such a powerful thing as a woman, as a child actress, as an actress."
"I loved 'Growing Pains' and I have the best memories of 'Growing Pains' but that was, you know, a hard time for me. And you know, do I blame the writers? I always say no, because I was the one that was very susceptible to it. I think if I had been on the cheerleading team and a cheerleading coach had said the same thing to me, I think that would happen to me, I would have gone down a road of restriction. And you know, was it magnified because I was on TV? Possibly. I'll never know."
"Growing Pains" aired for seven seasons between 1985 and 1992.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

‘The Handmaid's Tale' Emmy Plans: Elisabeth Moss' Surprise Directing Episode Choice, Alexis Bledel Goes for Guest Actress Despite New Rules (EXCLUSIVE)
‘The Handmaid's Tale' Emmy Plans: Elisabeth Moss' Surprise Directing Episode Choice, Alexis Bledel Goes for Guest Actress Despite New Rules (EXCLUSIVE)

Yahoo

time3 days ago

  • Yahoo

‘The Handmaid's Tale' Emmy Plans: Elisabeth Moss' Surprise Directing Episode Choice, Alexis Bledel Goes for Guest Actress Despite New Rules (EXCLUSIVE)

Blessed be the Emmys rulebook, but it needs some serious updating. With 'The Handmaid's Tale' having taken its final bow, Hulu has confirmed its official Emmy submissions for the critically acclaimed drama, with one entry in particular already causing waves. More from Variety Elisabeth Moss on Saying Goodbye to 'Handmaid's Tale' (for Now), How Motherhood Changed Her Approach to June and That Perfect Ending: 'Television Gold' 'Running Point' Costume Designer on Kate Hudson's Power Suits: 'Why Not Have Her Femininity Be Her Superpower?' Elisabeth Moss on Coming Full-Circle in 'The Handmaid's Tale' Finale: 'I Can't Imagine It Ending Any Other Way' Variety has learned exclusively that the streamer has submitted Alexis Bledel in the guest drama actress category for her appearance in the series finale ('610 – The Handmaid's Tale'), despite a newly enforced Emmy rule disqualifying actors who have been previously nominated in a lead or supporting category for the same show. Bledel won the Emmy for guest in 2017, and garnered two additional noms in the same category in 2020 and 2021. However, in 2018, after appearing in seven of the 13 episodes for a season, she was ineligible to compete as a guest; she was submitted and eventually nominated for supporting drama actress. The one-year recognition for her character, Ofglen, appears to fall outside the bounds of eligibility, but the streamer is hopeful the TV Academy will consider her circumstances. Insiders say Hulu expects the TV Academy to reclassify Bledel's submission to supporting drama actress before ballots are opened on June 12. But as of now, no decision has been issued. The rule aims to clarify what defines a 'guest' star. According to the new guidelines, any actor previously nominated in a lead or supporting role for a series can no longer be considered a guest, regardless of how briefly they appear in the series' new season. The policy has already drawn industry-wide criticism and confusion. Meryl Streep, for instance, was ruled ineligible for guest consideration for her turn in Hulu's 'Only Murders in the Building' — despite appearing in just four episodes — and will instead compete in the supporting comedy actress category due to her previous nom. Meanwhile, Paul Rudd, playing a new character in the same series, was nearly eligible as a guest but was in one episode too many, exposing inconsistencies with the changes. The guidelines have created more ambiguity than clarity. There should be a fundamental difference between a major series lead attempting to go guest and a long-time supporting player who has only occasionally appeared in a new season. Industry voices argue that the change unfairly penalizes performers with limited screen time who have previously been recognized — especially when those appearances are few and far between. Some believe this growing backlash will prompt the Emmys to consider revisions ahead of future cycles. Despite the rule conflict, 'The Handmaid's Tale' still remains a formidable force in this year's Emmy race. The drama, which concluded its six-season run on Monday, has garnered 76 nominations and 15 wins over its lifetime — including a historic outstanding drama series win in its first season, the first ever for a streaming platform. This year, Hulu submitted 36 entries for the show across both Primetime and Creative Arts categories. Notable acting entries include Elisabeth Moss for lead actress and for helming the penultimate episode, 'Execution,' which is somewhat surprising considering long-running shows often reserve their final episodes for consideration. However, the episode that sees many favorite characters' shocking deaths is more visually striking, partnered with June screaming, 'Don't let the bastards grind you down' as she's being hanged. In addition, Bradley Whitford, Max Minghella, and O-T Fagbenle will vie in the supporting actor race, while Yvonne Strahovski, Samira Wiley, and Ann Dowd will seek love in supporting actress. Guest actress submissions beyond Bledel include Emmy winners Cherry Jones (episode 602) and D'Arcy Carden (episode 608). Hulu's complete 2025 Emmy submission list for 'The Handmaid's Tale' includes: Variety Awards Circuit: Outstanding Drama Series: Bruce Miller, Eric Tuchman, Yahlin Chang, Warren Littlefield, Elisabeth Moss, and others. Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Elisabeth Moss Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Bradley Whitford, O-T Fagbenle, Max Minghella, Josh Charles, Sam Jaeger, Timothy Simons Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Yvonne Strahovski, Ann Dowd, Samira Wiley, Madeline Brewer, Amanda Brugel, Ever Carradine Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series: Alexis Bledel (610), Cherry Jones (602), D'Arcy Carden (608) Craft and Creative Arts CategoriesOutstanding Directing for a Drama Series: Elisabeth Moss (609) Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series: 'Exodus' – Yahlin Chang (608) 'Execution' – Eric Tuchman (609) 'The Handmaid's Tale' – Bruce Miller (610) Outstanding Cinematography: Nicola Daley (608), Stuart Biddlecombe (610) Outstanding Production Design: Elisabeth Williams and team (608) Outstanding Contemporary Costumes: Leslie Kavanagh and team (608) Outstanding Makeup (Non-Prosthetic): Burton LeBlanc and team (607) Outstanding Music Composition: Adam Taylor (609) Outstanding Music Supervision: Maggie Phillips, Brittany Whyte (602) Outstanding Sound Editing: Full team listed (609) Outstanding Sound Mixing: Full team listed (609) Outstanding Stunt Coordination: Brian Jagersky Outstanding Stunt Performance: Ensemble (609) Outstanding Special Visual Effects: Mavericks VFX (610) Outstanding Picture Editing: Wendy Hallam Martin (609) Outstanding Casting: Sharon Bialy, Russell Scott, Sherry Thomas, Robin D. Cook Short Form SubmissionOutstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series: 'The Handmaid's Tale: The End of an Epic' Best of Variety 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? Emmy Predictions: Apple, Netflix Lead the Pack as FYC Events Roll On Including 2,100+ Waiting List for HBO Max's Hit Series 'The Pitt' Emmy Predictions: Guest Acting (Comedy, Drama) - Scene-Stealers, Sleeper Hits and One Lucky Charm With Beau Bridges

Gurhan High Karat Gold Jewels Illuminate Couture Show With A Rare Glow
Gurhan High Karat Gold Jewels Illuminate Couture Show With A Rare Glow

Forbes

time5 days ago

  • Forbes

Gurhan High Karat Gold Jewels Illuminate Couture Show With A Rare Glow

New York-based designer Gurhan is exhibiting hi latest limited edition and one-off high karat gold ... More jewels at the Couture show in Las Vegas June 4 - June 8. Specializing in hand-wrought, 24-karat, 22-karat gold and sterling silver jewels ranging from a granulated sterling silver cross pendant necklace priced at $245.00 to hand-hammered 24-karat gold beaded men's bracelets to a one-of-a-kind Paraiba tourmaline necklace that retails for approximately $200,000, Turkish-born, New York-based high luxury jewelry designer Gurhan Orhan creates distinctive jewels in an epic array of styles and price ranges. Yet his jewelry's main marks of distinction reside in their embodiment of traditional artisanal techniques and aesthetic tendencies that originated in the Byzantine empire (roughly from 330 AD to 1453 AD), as well as antique elements sourced from around the world. In addition to being a designer, Gurhan cuts the turquoise, boulder opals and other gemstones that ... More he uses in his various collections. While Gurhan's Antiquities collection pieces are set with everything from ancient Roman micro-mosaics and carnelian intaglios to 16th century Japanese Satsuma porcelains buttons of rare beauty, his High Jewelry, Gold Classic, 25th anniversary, Curated and Men's collections are alive with Gurhan's love of gold, precious gemstones and the Old World mastery of his Istanbul artisans, which he has carefully trained over the years. Gurhan, who is exhibiting his many collections at the Couture Show in Las Vegas June 4 - June 8, granted a Zoom interview to this writer to reflect on his career, which began in Turkey and brought him to New York City 26 years ago. Gurhan's radiant New York City flagship boutique is located on Franklin Street in Soho. While Gurhan's boutique at 160 Franklin Street in New York's Soho district has been gleaming and going strong for eleven years, he continues to expand his creative horizons. After training as a lapidary, Gurhan is now cutting turquoise, boulder opal and other gems that are set in his jewels. 'A collection with the #8 mine turquoise that I cut will be presented at Couture,' Gurhan noted, along with a tourmaline collection, a sapphire collection, plus diamonds and gold collections. 'At Couture, we are also exhibiting pieces such as a bracelet that can be added to a necklace for interchangeable looks,' he confided. "Versatility is an important advantage in a jewel as many customers highly value this aspect of a design." FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder Ancient scarabs, Roman micro-mosaics, intaglios and bronze elements from antiquity set in high karat ... More gold make this Gurhan Antiquities bracelet a treasure, When it comes to describing the formative influences on his aesthetic, 'Byzantium is my starting point,' Gurhan explained, 'as the Byzantine empire had such a strong love of gold, which I completely identify with. In Byzantine art and culture," he related, 'gold symbolized divine light, transcendence, and spiritual purity. Its presence in religious objects, artwork and jewelry, made gold a symbol of strength, profound beauty, purity, faith, wealth and power. During the Byzantine era, the Roman Empire expanded East, and centered on Constantinople, which is now called Istanbul,' he continued. 'The Roman influence on Constantinople explains why much Byzantine jewelry resembles jewels of Roman antiquity, and while the Byzantine Empire's artistic and cultural influence spread far and wide, its use of gold in jewelry, in royal objects and in fine art made a huge impact on other world cultures.' Like a secret garden, Gurhan's opal and diamond ring set in high karat gold is alive with constantly ... More changing colors and light. Gurhan's jewelry differs from many other contemporary jewelers in that it is made with hand-wrought, labor-intensive techniques like granulation, filigree, and inlay, showcasing his admiration for Byzantine traditions of metalworking and adornment. In Gurhan's estimation, gold is more than a precious, beautiful and rare jewelry material. For him, it is a cosmically powerful substance with proven scientific properties. 'It's amazing that gold came to this planet as a result of meteorite bombardments," Gurhan mused. "It flew through outer space and landed like a gift deep inside the earth. Gold is a kind of transmitter that moves energy into your body, and it's also the best conductor of electricity with maximum efficiency," he claimed. Jewelry designer Gurhan Orhan wears high karat gold rings and an earring of his own design. In addition, 'Pure gold is hyper-precious and because it is almost 40 percent heavier than 18-karat gold, it feels fantastic on the body,' he said with a smile. Along with his respect for the energetic properties of gold, Gurhan also reveres whatever it is that animates gemstones. 'Energies live inside gemstones, definitely,' he said. 'In the case of pearls, these materials were made by a living thing, an oyster. Think about that,' he said with a laugh, while holding up to the camera a 40.25 inch strand of baroque freshwater pearls that featured a 22K gold lobster clasp. One of the standouts of Gurhan's Oyster collection, the necklace is one of his many utterly unique organic statement pieces. Gurhan's gift for high luxury jewelry design is fortified by his love of gold plus the colors, ... More textures and energies inherent in gemstones and organic gems, such as pearls, In order to compensate for gold's recent record high prices, Gurhan noted that, 'We have been making lots of new gold chains in different sizes that show a lot of gold yet are lighter in weight.' On the subject of gold's current price, Gurhan commented that, 'Considering that there is such a finite amount of gold, I believe that is priced rather low.' What if gold continues to rise even higher in price? 'The higher in value the raw material of your products, the better it is for your business,' he theorized. What's more, given that hundreds of Gurhan's online New York boutique clients are already avid members of his loyalty program, 'I remain optimistic, for my customers and my various retail partner who I will see at Couture all love gold as much as I do.' Gurhan utilizes the power of cabochon-cut colored gemstones offset by twinkling diamonds to create ... More visually impactful jewels.

Broadway has found its Gen Z audience - by telling Gen Z stories
Broadway has found its Gen Z audience - by telling Gen Z stories

Hamilton Spectator

time5 days ago

  • Hamilton Spectator

Broadway has found its Gen Z audience - by telling Gen Z stories

NEW YORK (AP) — Kimberly Belflower knew 'John Proctor is the Villain' needed its final cathartic scene to work — and, for that, it needed Lorde's 'Green Light.' 'I literally told my agent, 'I would rather the play just not get done if it can't use that song,'' the playwright laughed. She wrote Lorde a letter, explaining what the song meant, and got her green light. Starring Sadie Sink , the staggering play about high schoolers studying 'The Crucible' as the #MeToo movement arrives in their small Georgia town, earned seven Tony nominations , including best new play — the most of any this season. It's among a group of Broadway shows that have centered the stories of young people and attracted audiences to match. Sam Gold's Brooklyn-rave take on 'Romeo + Juliet,' nominated for best revival of a play and led by Kit Connor and Rachel Zegler with music from Jack Antonoff , drew the youngest ticket-buying audience recorded on Broadway, producers reported, with 14% of ticket purchasers aged 18-24, compared to the industry average of 3%. The shows share some DNA: pop music (specifically the stylings of Antonoff, who also produced 'Green Light'), Hollywood stars with established fanbases and stories that reflect the complexity of young adulthood. 'It was very clear that young people found our show because it was doing what theater's supposed to do,' Gold said. 'Be a mirror.' Embracing the poetry of teenage language The themes 'John Proctor' investigates aren't danced around (until they literally are). The girls are quick to discuss #MeToo's impact, intersectional feminism and sexual autonomy. Their conversations, true to teenage girlhood, are laced with comedy and pop culture references — Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, 'Twilight,' and, of course, Lorde. Fina Strazza, 19, portrays Beth, a leader who is whip-smart and well-intentioned — but whose friendships and belief system are shaken by the play's revelations. 'You have so much empathy and are so invested in her, but she still has these mishaps and slip-ups that young people often have,' said Strazza, nominated for best featured actor in a play. Some audience members have given her letters detailing how Beth helped them forgive themselves for how they handled similar experiences. The script is written in prose, with frequent line breaks and infrequent capital letters. Director Danya Taymor, nominated for best direction of a play a year after winning a Tony for another teenage canon classic, 'The Outsiders, ' was drawn to that rhythm — and how Belflower's depiction of adolescence captured its intensity, just as S.E. Hinton had. 'There's something about the teenage years that is so raw,' Taymor said. 'None of us can escape it.' Classic themes, made modern During his Tony-winning production of 'An Enemy of the People,' Gold found himself having conversations with young actors and theatergoers about climate change, politics and how 'theater was something that people their age and younger really need in a different way, as the world is becoming so addicted to technology,' he said. That conjured 'Romeo and Juliet.' The original text 'has it all in terms of what it means to inherit the future that people older than you have created,' Gold said. Building the world of this show, with an ensemble under 30, was not unlike building 'An Enemy of the People,' set in 19th century Norway, Gold said: 'I think the difference is that the world that I made for this show is something that a very hungry audience had not gotten to see.' Fans, Gold correctly predicted, were ravenous. Demand ahead of the first preview prompted a preemptive extension. Word (and bootleg video) of Connor doing a pullup to kiss Zegler made the rounds. 'Man of the House,' an Antonoff-produced ballad sung by Zegler mid-show, was released as a single. With the show premiering just before the U.S. presidential election, Voters of Tomorrow even registered new voters in the lobby. Audiences proved willing to pay: Average ticket prices hovered around $150. Cheaper rush and lottery tickets drew lines hours before the box office opened. Every week but one sold out. 'The show was initially really well sold because we had a cast that appealed to a really specific audience,' said producer Greg Nobile of Seaview Productions. 'We continued to see the houses sell out because these audiences came, and they were all over online talking about the ways in which they actually felt seen.' Building a Gen Z theater experience with Gen Z Thomas Laub, 28, and Alyah Chanelle Scott, 27, started Runyonland Productions for that very reason. 'We both felt a lot of frustration with the industry, and the ways that we were boxed out of it as students in Michigan who were able to come to New York sparingly,' Laub said. Runyonland was launched in 2018 with the premise that highlighting new, bold voices would bring change. This spring, Scott, known for playing Whitney in HBO's 'Sex Lives of College Girls,' acted off-Broadway in Natalie Margolin's 'All Nighter.' 'I was standing onstage and looking out and seeing the college kids that I was playing,' Scott said. 'I was like, 'I respect you so much. I want to do you proud. I want to show you a story that represents you in a way that doesn't belittle or demean you, but uplifts you.'' Co-producing 'John Proctor,' Scott said, gave Runyonland the opportunity to target that audience on a Broadway scale. Belflower developed the show with students as part of a The Farm College Collaboration Project. It's been licensed over 100 times for high school and college productions. The Broadway production's social and influencer marketing is run by 20-somethings, too. Previews attracted fans with a $29 ticket lottery. While average prices jumped to over $100 last week (still below the Broadway-wide average), $40 rush, lottery and standing room tickets have sold out most nights, pushing capacity over 100%. The success is validating Runyonland's mission, Laub said. 'Alyah doesn't believe me that I cry every time at the end,' Laub said. Scott laughs. 'I just want to assure you, on the record, that I do indeed cry every time.' Harnessing a cultural catharsis The final scene of 'John Proctor' is a reclamation fueled by rage and 'Green Light.' Capturing that electricity has been key to the show's marketing. 'The pullup (in 'Romeo + Juliet') is so impactful because it's so real. It's like so exactly what a teenage boy would do,' Taymor said. 'I think when you see the girls in 'John Proctor' screaming ... it hits you in a visceral way.' That screaming made the Playbill cover. 'In my opinion, the look and feel of that campaign feels different from a traditional theatrical campaign, and it feels a lot closer to a film campaign,' Laub said. The show's team indeed considered the zeitgeist-infiltrating work of their sister industries, specifically studios like Neon and A24. In May, 'John Proctor is the Villain' finished its second 'spirit week' with a school spirit day. Earlier events included an ice cream social — actors served Van Leeuwen — a silent disco and a banned book giveaway. For those not in their own school's colors, the merch stand offered T-shirts, including one printed with the Walt Whitman-channeling line said by Sink's Shelby: 'I contain frickin' multitudes.' Julia Lawrence, 26, designed the shirt after the show's team saw her TikTok video reimagining their traditional merch into something more like a concert tee. 'It's just so incredible to bring Gen Z into the theater that way, especially at a time when theater has never been more important,' Lawrence said. 'In a world that's overpowered by screens, live art can be such a powerful way to find understanding.' ___ For more coverage of the 2025 Tony Awards, visit .

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store