David Auburn's PROOF is one of the most celebrated play on Broadway in recent years, winning both the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize in drama for 2001. Even as the sold-out Broadway run continues, Arizona Theatre Company is one of the first regional theatres to secure the rights to do an original production of Auburn's award-winning drama that the New York Daily News calls "Rich and compelling. Full of life, laughter and hope."
PROOF, directed by ATC Associate Artistic Director Samantha K. Wyer, previews January 19, 2002, opens to the press on January 25 and runs through February 9 at the Temple of Music and Art in downtown Tucson. It will continue its run in Phoenix February 14 March 3 at the Herberger Theater Center. The production underwriter for PROOF is Mary Jo Ghory, M.D.
PROOF is about mathematicians, but it's more about what goes on in their hearts than in their heads. Auburn brings together four characters on the porch of an old Chicago home to explore the complex formulas of love, trust and fear that bind a family together, for better or worse. It's the eve of Catherine's 25th birthday. Her father, a famous mathematician who in middle age slipped into dementia, has just died. Catherine dropped her own studies in math to spend the last five years taking care of him, and now must confront her own life head-on. How much of her father's genius-or madness-will she inherit? Her sister Claire has flown into town to take care of her and Hal, a former student of her father's, has fallen in love with her. When Hal discovers a revolutionary new mathematical proof in the family's attic, the bonds between all three are tested to their limits as they search for the truth about the proof's author.
PROOF premiered off-Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club in the spring of 2000, then moved to the Walter Kerr Theatre on Broadway, where it earned a number of Tony nominations for its cast, as well as winning for Best Play, Best Actress (Mary Louise Parker) and Best Director (Daniel Sullivan). PROOF was also awarded the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in drama for 2001. Playwright David Auburn's previous plays include SKYSCRAPER (Greenwich House), FIFTH PLANET (New York stage and film), MISS YOU (HBO Comedy Arts Fest), and THE NEXT LIFE (Juilliard School). His short play WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE ABOUT THE FUTURE? appeared in Harper's magazine and has been adapted for the screen. He recently finished a screen adaptation of the novel TRIAGE for director Sydney Pollack. In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, this year he received the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award and a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship for PROOF.
Director Samantha K. Wyer directed the Pulitzer winner WIT for ATC last season, which earned six ariZoni awards, including Best Overall Production (play) and Best Director (play). Previously at ATC, she directed a workshop production of SECRET THINGS by Elaine Romero and staged readings of DADDY-THE MYTH, PSYCHIC FARE and NEON LIGHTS AND RED SEATS for ATC's Latino/Native American Playwright Mentorship Program. Other Arizona directing credits include ANGELS IN AMERICA: MILLENNIUM APPROACHES and ARCADIA at The University of Arizona's Arizona Repertory Theatre, THE EIGHT: REINDEER MONOLOGUES and TWO DAYS OF GRACE AT MIDDLEHAM by Toni Press-Coffman, a play she also directed for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.
Ms. Wyer has painstakingly assembled a cast that is up to the challenge of portraying Auburn's complex family of characters. "I had to cast four people who are great thinkers and listeners," she says, "because the nuances of these family relationships are so important." The cast includes Angela Pierce (Catherine), who has done extensive work in New York and across the country, most recently in CITY OF LIGHT at Studio Arena in Buffalo, NY. She spent a season touring the U.S. with the prestigious Acting Company in productions of THE RIVALS, MACBETH and LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN. Traber Burns' (Robert) credits include work at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre Company, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Geva Theatre, Baltimore's Center Stage and the New York Shakespeare Festival, as well as appearances in film and television. Marc A. Gray (Hal) has appeared in the films HOLY SMOKE and THE MATRIX. His recent theatre credits include co-directing and acting in Renee Taylor and Joe Bologna's LOVERS & OTHER STRANGERS off-off-Broadway and the role of Lovborg in HEDDA GABLER. Courtney Peterson has appeared at Seattle Repertory Theatre, North Carolina Shakespeare Festival and Shakespeare Santa Cruz, as well as in roles on "The X-Files," "Ally McBeal" and SCREAM 2: THE SEQUEL. All four will be making their ATC debut with this production.
The design team for PROOF includes scenic designer Scott Weldin, who most recently designed 2 PIANOS, 4 HANDS and INVENTING VAN GOGH for ATC, as well as over 100 productions for professional theatres around the country; costume designer Sam Fleming who last designed costumes for ATC in WIT; lighting designer Tracy Odishaw, who has designed lighting for a number of ATC productions including WIT (2000-2001 ariZoni Award), ART, HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE and SIDE MAN; and ATC's resident sound designer Brian Jerome Peterson, who has most recently designed sound for 2 PIANOS, 4 HANDS, GHOSTS and INVENTING VAN GOGH. The stage manager for PROOF is Elizabeth Lohr.
Tickets range from $24-$36 and are available at www.arizonatheatre.org or by calling the ATC box office at 520-622-2823. Discounts are available for students, seniors and the military and anyone under the age of 25 may purchase tickets for just $10. (No discounts are available for tickets purchased online.) Half-price rush tickets are available for all performances one hour prior to curtain at the ATC Box Office (subject to availability). For group discounts call 520-884-8210.
ATC will offer a Pay What You Can performance on Tuesday, January 22 at 7:30 p.m. A limited number of tickets will go on sale at the Temple of Music and Art at 10 a.m. on the day of the performance and are limited to two tickets per order with a suggested donation of $5.
ATC offers audio-described performance for patrons with visual impairments on Thursday, January 31 at 7:30 p.m. and Wednesday, February 6 at 2 p.m. Each performance will include a tactile tour one hour prior to curtain. Braille and large-print playbills are available upon request from the house manager. American Sign Language-interpreted performances are offered on Thursday, January 31 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, February 2 at 8 p.m. Patrons with hearing impairments will receive a biography of the interpreters, a description of the play and name signs of each character. Tickets for the audio-described and ASL-interpreted performances are available through the ATC box office at 520-622-2823. Patrons with hearing impairments may access the box office via Arizona Relay at 800-367-8939 (TTY/ASCII).
For ticket information for the Phoenix run of PROOF call the ATC box office in Phoenix at 602-256-6995.