PROOF
by David Auburn
Directed by: Angela Miller

SCHEDULE:
•Auditions — June 15 & 17, 2014, 7:00—9:00 PM, at Christian Health Center, 920 S 4th Street, Louisville, KY 40203
•Rehearsals — July & August 2014 (dates TBD)
•Performances — August 21—30, 2014, 7:30—9:30 PM, at The Bard's Town Theatre, 1801 Bardstown Road, Louisville, KY 40205

CHARACTERS (2 women, 2 men):
•Catherine (25—35 yrs.): A young woman who inherited at least some of her father's mathematical genius, and, she fears, his "instability" as well; she gave up her life and schooling to take care of her father until his recent death. Originally played by Mary-Louise Parker Catherine.
•Claire (30—40 yrs.): Catherine's older sister, a no nonsense, take charge kind of gal. She left Robert and Catherine behind, distancing herself from the run down family home of her youth. She escaped the edge of the University of Chicago campus to make a new life for herself in New York City. Originally played by Johanna Day Claire.
•Robert (55—65 yrs.): A recently deceased mathematician who did brilliant, breakthrough work in his youth, but whose later years were plagued by delusional mental illness; he is seen in Catherine's imagination and in flashbacks. Originally played by Larry Bryggman Robert.
•Harold ("Hal") Dobbs (25—35 yrs.): One of Robert's last Ph.D. students during the one year his idol and mentor's illness went into remission, at least enabling Robert to teach, if not continue his own creative mathematical work. Originally played by Ben Shenkman.

ABOUT THE PLAY:
•Full-length drama; premiered October 2000 on Broadway
•Awards (2001) — Pulitzer Prize, Drama Desk Award, and Tony Award for Best Play

REVIEWS:
•"When we think of the great American playwrights, we think of Arthur Miller and Eugene O'Neill and Lillian Hellman, in earlier generations; Wendy Wasserstein and Tony Kushner, Jon Robin Baitz and Donald Margulies today: They are always writing about big ideas and wrapping them in family squabbles that get us where we live. Welcome David Auburn to the club. PROOF is the one you won't want to miss this fall." —NY Magazine.
•"…combines elements of mystery and surprise with old-fashioned storytelling to provide a compelling evening of theatre…[PROOF is a] smart and compassionate play of ideas." —NY Daily News.
•"PROOF surprises us with its aliveness…Mr. Auburn takes pleasure in knowledge…At the same time, he is unshowily fresh and humane, and he has written a lovely play." —NY Observer.
•"[A] wonderfully funny…ambitiously constructed work…" —Variety.

THE STORY:
On the eve of her twenty-fifth birthday, Catherine, a troubled young woman, has spent years caring for her brilliant but unstable father, a famous mathematician in his fifties and professor at the University of Chicago. Now, following his death, she must deal with her own struggle with mathematical genius and mental illness; the arrival of her estranged sister, Claire; and the attentions of 28-year-old Hal, a former student of her father's who hopes to find valuable work in the 103 notebooks that her father left behind. Over the long weekend that follows, a burgeoning romance and the discovery of a mysterious notebook containing a paradigm-shifting proof about prime numbers draw Catherine into the most difficult problem of all: How much of her father's madness — or genius — will she inherit?