Show and Tell #2: Proof

Proof by David Auburn was originally produced Off-Broadway by the Manhattan Theater Club in May 2000. In October 2000, the play was transferred to Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theater. The first Broadway produced starred Mary-Louise Parker, Larry Bryggman, and Ben Shenkman. Proof closed on Broadway in January 2003 with a total of 917 shows. Also the play won two awards, the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. It is still staged in most theaters, as such regional and community theaters.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof_(play)

The play Proof is about this young woman named Catherine who has gained some of her deceased father's mathematical genius. Her father was a mathematical genius at the University of Chicago. He struggle with mathematical and mental illness. This is the same struggle Catherine is going through. As her sister Claire come back in town and sells the house, she become even more stress out having to prove to everyone that she is stable to stay on her own. After her father's death, Hal, one of Robert ex-graduate student and Catherine's lover, discovers some proof about prime number. Catherine then has to prove that the proofs are her and stay mentally under control.

One dramaturgical choice the playwright is the idea of mental illness. Robert and Catherine both had a line of mental illness. They both obtain it at the same age. Also Catherine is experiencing the same kind of problems he was having such as, talking to invisible people. The idea of having this mirroring effect helps the audience to see how the father was. It helps us see their struggle move. Another dramaturgical choice was the first scene when Catherine was talking to her father but he was not there. We later on find out that he has been dead and she was see things. By including this scene, we see early on that Catherine has a serious problem.