“Proof" at Augustana College -- May 8 through 11
Thursday, May 8, through Sunday, May 11
Augustana College's Brunner Theatre Center, 3750 Seventh Avenue, Rock Island IL
Hailed by Variety as a “wonderfully funny” and “ambitiously constructed work,” and by the New York Observer as “unshowily fresh and humane,” playwright David Auburn's Proof closes the 2024-25 theatre season at Augustana College's Brunner Theatre Center, this Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner also lauded by the New York Daily News as a “smart and compassionate play of ideas.”
With Proof opening on the eve of her 25th birthday, Catherine, a troubled young woman, has spent years caring for her brilliant but unstable father Robert, a famous mathematician. Now, following his death, she must deal with her own volatile emotions, as well as the arrival of her estranged sister Claire and the attentions of Hal, a former student of her father's who hopes to find valuable work in the 103 notebooks that Robert left behind. Over the long weekend that follows, a burgeoning romance and the discovery of a mysterious notebook draw Catherine into the most difficult problem of all: How much of her father’s madness – or genius – will she inherit? With the characters all puzzle pieces in the search for the truth behind a mysterious mathematical formula, Proof is a poignant drama and sly comedy about love and reconciliation, one that won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and three Tony Awards including Best Play.
Directing Proof for Augustana is the college's Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts Jennifer Popple, whose recent productions have included Dracula: a feminist revenge fantasy, The Memo, Macbeth, and One Flea Spare. Serving as the play's stage manager is Alyssa Ogrodny, with additional members of Popple's creative team including: assistant director and dramaturg Haley Chellberg; assistant stage manager Linnea Strack; costume designer Katie Sanders; sound designer Joe Burck; assistant sound designer Chris Celius; lighting and set designer Mike Turczysnki; assistant lighting designer Sean Halloran; and props designer Paige Withey.
Auburn's troubled math genius Catherine is portrayed by Abby Malina, a recent castmate in Augustana's productions of A Comedy of Errors and Nine, with Claire played by Allie McPeak (Madea) and Hal by Aaron Randolph IV (Betrayal). The role of Robert is enacted by 1990 Augustana graduate and Reader employee Mike Schulz, who previously appeared in the college's Brunner Theatre in Mississippi Bend Players productions including Red, Biloxi Blues, and Wait Until Dark.
Proof will be staged in Augustana College's Brunner Theatre Center May 8 through 11, with performances Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Admission is $10-15, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)794-7306 and visiting Augustana.edu/ticket-office.
