By David Auburn
Directed by Greg Kolack
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 . . . . . . .  About  . . . . . .

   . . . .  Notes  . . .
Production credits

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Director's Corner

Cast

Robert Craig Mahlstedt
Catherine Susan Maurer
Hal Rob Snyder
Claire Sandy Squillo

Dramaturg's Diary
By Liz Egan

About the Play

Much has been written about all the big themes covered in David Auburn's play Proof. They include death, depression, the relationship of intellect to madness, and mathematics as the exclusive profession of the young. What is sometimes lost in all the lofty discussions is that Proof is a scathingly witty and eminently satisfying evening on a back porch in Hyde Park near the University of Chicago campus.

Catherine and her genius father Robert thrive in the atmosphere of the U. of C. as they could in no other university in the world. Hal, a math teacher, plays in a band whose signature song is "Imaginary Number." Geek, nerd, wonk, dweeb, Dilbert, and paste-eater come to mind. In one telling scene, Catherine announces her intention of going to the North Shore to continue her education. Dumbfounded, Robert says, "Northwestern? You'd actually want to live in Evanston?"
Last month, an eminent U. of C. musicologist won a million dollar grant to further the study of Verdi's operas. "I did not know that I had been nominated for the award," he told a reporter later that day. "I finished breakfast then taught my usual classes. After all, this is the University of Chicago!"

The recently deceased novelist and sociologist Susan Sontag once remarked on the difficulty of being a gifted child. "I skipped three grades, then landed in high school were I was told by the principal, 'You can't stay here, we don't know what to do with you.' And so I came to the University of Chicago." Of course she did, and nurtured in an intellectual cocoon, graduated, with honors, at 17.

In the mid-nineties I taught a short course in database logic to a Nobel Laureate's class in economics at the University of Chicago. As the students lounged in their seats, regarding me with less than enthusiasm, I struggled to find an approach that would capture their attention. Then it came to me. "Ladies and Gentlemen," I said, "today we are going to discuss Boolean Logic, sometimes know as Boolean Algebra. The nineteenth century largely self-taught genius, George Boole, argued that logic was principally a discipline of mathematics, rather than philosophy. He determined to find a way to encode logical arguments into inductive language . . . . " By this time they were taking notes furiously, and I knew I had them.

Auburn laces his script with allusions to Chicago, the skyline, sailboats on Lake Michigan, the losing Cubs, Diversey Avenue, Hyde Park. But it is the very special University of Chicago that is the center of this play, a university that would embrace the edgy Catherine and her father Robert, but would never be home to her more mundane sister Claire.

About the Playwright

David Auburn attended the University of Chicago (AB-91) where he studied political philosophy and where his formal mathematical education ended with calculus. He wrote Second-City-like sketches and a one-act play while still in college. After moving to New York he wrote copy for labels for a carpet shampoo, then attended Juilliard, studying acting and writing until he decided to concentrate on writing. Earlier works include Fifth Planet and Other Plays and Skyscraper.

Auburn says, in an interview with Robert Osserman, that he has decided not to follow Proof with another mathematical play, but is working on two projects, one on the Spanish Civil War and the other on twentieth-century spiritualism. Meanwhile, in order to preserve the original integrity and spirit of the play, he has adapted Proof for the movie version, which stars Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins.

Proof won the Joseph Kesselring Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, the Drama Desk Award, and the Tony Award for Best Play of 2001. Often compared to the British playwright Tom Stoppard, Auburn says he was more influenced by Mike Nichols and Elaine May and David Mamet.

Production Credits

Director Greg Kolack
Technical Director Troy Lee Brasuell, Jr.
Stage Manager Denny Wise
Assistant Stage Manager George McArdle
Costume Co-Chairs Peggy Carlson, Susan Remy
Costume Crew Pat Binder, Eileen Crow, Christy Dahl, Darla Goudeau, Patti Jeka, Jan Quinn, Julie Suarez
Dramaturg Liz Egan
Hospitality Chair Carol Clarke
Hospitality Crew Bryon Abramowitz, Stephanie Abramowitz, Terri Baebler, Jack Calvert, Karol Calvert, Ruth Cekal, Mary Clarke, Christina Dees, Bill FitzGerald, Tom Frohnapfel, Nancy Griffin, Stacie Heintze, Bonnie Hilton, Karen Holbert, Karla Hudson, Ann Marie Hultgren, Harry Hultgren, Donna Kanak, Julie Knoch, Kelly Kubicki, Cassandra Johnson Locke, Debby Mills, Jon Mills, Katie Pecis, Pat Rafferty, Carolyn Redding, Joan Roeder, Nancy Schifo, Jennifer Schmidt, Connie Sierzputowski, Jane Stacy, Liz Steele, Carol Suda, Gregg Valek, Brian Wacker, Susan Waldschmidt, Caron Wedeking, Gini Welch, Mark Wroczynski
Lighting Designer Sandy Liakus
Lighting Crew Terri Baebler, Pat Huth, Jim Pilcher, Paul Roach, Betsy Stiles, Mark Wroczynski
Makeup Designer Roxanne Moreno
Makeup Crew Stephanie Abramowitz, Kelli Kubicki, James Moreno, Amanda Ragan, Nora White
Properties Designer Arlene Page
Properties Crew Linda Auer, Brian Centers, Carol Clarke, Mark Cunningham, Angelee Johns Favoino, Bill FitzGerald, Jim Hannigan, Peter Hilton, Dennis Hudson, Jan Mahlstedt, Mary Pavia, Mary Smith
Set Construction Chair Mike Huth
Set Construction Crew
Grace Abrahamson, John Allen, Mike Barger, Lee Brasuell, Anne Cahill, George Dempsey, Tom Gess, Mark Hewitt, John Mills, Nancy Obern, John Otto, Rich Ptacek, Paul Roach, Bill Rotz, Fred Sauers, Rob Snyder, Tom Squillo, Nicole Zimmerman
Set Designer Troy Lee Brasuell, Jr.
Set Dresser Troy Lee Brasuell, Jr.
Set Painting Chair Rob Nardini
Set Painting Crew Stephanie Abramowitz, Carol Clarke, Christina Dees, Mike Janke, Rich Kropp, Kelli Kubicki, Sue Kuehnhold, Greg Maurer, John Mueller, Nancy Obern, Carol Suda, Caron Wedeking, Sue Wisthuff
Sound Co-Chairs Bill Hammack, Dick Jacoby
Sound Crew Betsy Stiles, Sue Wisthuff, Nicole Zimmerman
Box Office Chair Mary Ellen Schutt
Box Office Crew Ed Barrow, Linda Bremer, Peg Callaghan, Susan Cardamone, George Dempsey, Mary Dempsey, Janet Ryan Grasso, Terry Kozlowski, JoAnn Mallon, Jill Neely, Lori B. Proksa, Patti Roeder, Paulette
Sarussi, Carol Suda, and Marilyn Wilson
House Manager Chair Bill Wilson
House Managers Jack Calvert, Susan Cardamone, Brian Centers , Rob Cramer, Mike DeKovic, Joe Delaloye, Harry Hultgren, Roland Imes, Jon Mills, Bill Rotz
Front Row Center flyer Joe Petrolis
Group Sales Co-Chairs Ceri Hartnett, Betsy Stiles
Poster Distribution Kathleen Kusper
Production Coordinator Linda Roberts
Program Advertising Peggy Carlson
Publicity Chair Ann Marie Hultgren
Program Editor Stephanie Williams
Program Crew Marion J. Reis
Website Judy DiVita

Director's Corner
by Greg Kolack

GENIUS: extraordinary intellectual power especially as manifested in creative activity.

SCHIZOPHRENIA: a psychotic disorder characterized by loss of contact with the environment and by disintegration of personality expressed as disorder of feeling, thought, and conduct.

Schizophrenics are often thought to be highly creative. Geniuses are often thought to have no contact with reality. Neither is thought to be normal. So where does one end and the other begin? What is the link? Or are they the same?

A person spends sleepless nights creating a 40 page mathematical proof beyond almost anyone's comprehension. Another person finds hidden knowledge in a pile of leaves and in the steam from a cup of coffee. So who has lost contact with reality and who has the extraordinary intellectual power? More importantly, who has the power to decide who is the genius, and who is the schizophrenic?

Proof explores this question and at the same time explores family relationships, stuck lives, and the need of some to conform to the "norm." But, ultimately, it is about family - what pulls them together, what tears them apart.

I first encountered David Auburn's Pulitzer Prize winning script 3 years ago in its national tour. I knew then I had to direct it. It has been a gift to do so.

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