Proof

By David Auburn

Directed by Jon Ciccarelli

For the first show of 2009, HSC choose to break with a modern theater piece certain to become a modern classic. Since it's publication in 2001, "Proof", the story of a young woman coming to terms with the legacy of her famous mathematician father and the toll his mental illness took on her life, has taken theater and film by storm. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and made into a 2005 film starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins, this comedy-drama blends the complex beauty of mathematics with the equally complex interrelationships of family members struggling to reach each other and know themselves.

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Cast

Catherine

Noelle Fair

Robert

Charles J. Roby

Hal Devin Landin

Claire Jennifer L. Nasta

Plot Synopsis:

Catherine, the 20-something daughter of Robert, a recently deceased mathematical genius and famous professor at the University of Chicago, struggles with mathematical genius and mental illness. Catherine had cared for her father through a lengthy mental illness. Upon Robert's death, his ex-graduate student Hal discovers a paradigm-shifting proof about prime numbers in Robert's office. While fending off qestions of the discovery, Catherine also must deal with her often absent and overbearing sister, who returns home for their father's funeral. The title refers both to that proof and to the play's central question: Can Catherine prove the proof's authorship? Along with proving the proof, the daughter also finds herself in a relationship with 28-year-old Hal. Throughout, the play explores Catherine's fear of following in her father's footsteps, both mathematically and mentally.