Fina Strazza Praises ‘John Proctor Is the Villain’ Costar Sadie Sink (Exclusive)

As Fina Strazza soaks in her first Tony nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play, the John Proctor Is the Villain star is reflecting on the people who’ve helped shape her path — including her Broadway costar and friend, Sadie Sink.

Speaking with PEOPLE at the 2025 Tony Awards ‘Meet the Nominees’ event, the 19-year-old actress opens up about the lessons she’s learned from the Stranger Things star.

“Sadie is a wonderful person to watch in the workplace,” Strazza says. “She has this really grounded confidence that she doesn’t have to advise me on it, but I think I take a lot of inspiration from her and aspire to conduct a space the way she does.”

“She’s really a nice person to be around and to work with, and I’m very happy to know her,” Strazza adds of Sink, 23.

Strazza and Sink are on stage together eight times a week in John Proctor Is the Villain, a searing and timely play that centers on a group of high school girls reckoning with power, patriarchy and the lingering shadows of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.

“It’s been the most wonderful, heartwarming experience ever,” Strazza says of being a part of the play, written by Kimberly Belflower and directed by Danya Taymor. “I can’t believe that our show is resonating so much with people.”

The impact of the play is already being felt beyond the stage of the Booth Theatre in New York City. “It’s kind of this grassroots movement of a show that everyone has a stake in,” she says. “It feels like we’re part of something bigger.”

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There’s also the feeling that Strazza’s among family. The cast — including Nihar Duvvuri, Maggie Kuntz, Hagan Oliveras, Morgan Scott and Amalia Yoo — bonded quickly during rehearsals.

“We’re a coven,” Strazza says of their offstage rapport. “We like to work as a pack and travel as a pack. We just went on a little getaway to Connecticut, explored the woods, so the group chat is filled with a lot of little photos from our hikes, too. We’ve always got something new to chat about.”

That close relationship was something Tony winner Taymor fostered from the beginning. “Our rehearsal environment was just so warm,” Strazza recalls.

She adds, “Danya, our wonderful powerhouse of a director, created this space where we supported one another. We would start every day with massage circles and yoga and conversations where we talked [about] our childhood, to really bond with each other before we really got into the nitty-gritty of the work. So we all got very close, very quickly.”

“There’s a certain magic when we’re on stage together that I feel like I’ve known these people my whole life, even though it’s only been a matter of months,” the actress continues. “We work as a pack.”

In John Proctor Is the Villain, Strazza plays Beth, a sweet and morally centered teen navigating friendship, feminism and disillusionment.

“I love her heart and how much hope she has,” she tells PEOPLE of her role. “The word ‘hope’ always makes me want to tear up a little bit. There’s something so… hopeful about hope. But she has a really good moral compass, I think, and always wants to see the best in people and is hopeful that the people around her will do the right thing. And I think that’s really beautiful.”

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Despite having made her Broadway debut at just 8 years old in Matilda the Musical, returning to the stage as a young adult has felt entirely new.

“Back then I had a lot more energy and didn’t realize the weight of what I was doing,” she says, before reflecting on what she’s been able to do with John Proctor Is the Villain. “Now it feels like it’s my first time. It’s really wonderful to create a show — to create a character — and see what it feels like to birth something in a way. It feels kind of spiritual in a way that I didn’t expect.”

But mostly, she’s just trying to wrap her head around nabbing her first Tony nomination. “It’s such a great honor,” says Strazza. “I’m not sure I ever really thought it would be bestowed upon me. And I’m just so, so grateful.”

Tickets for John Proctor Is the Villain are now on sale. The 2025 Tony Awards will air live from N.Y.C.’s Radio City Music Hall Sunday, June 8 on CBS.