Proof

David Auburn’s play, Proof, premiered in 1999 in New Jersey before moving to New York for an Off-Broadway run and a successful transfer to Broadway in 2000. The original Broadway cast starred Mary Louise Parker as Catherine, and subsequently attracted several other famous women to play the role. Proof received extensive critical acclaim, winning a Drama Desk Award for Best New Play in 2000 and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Tony Award for Best Play, the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play in 2001. A 2005 film adaptation featured Gwyneth Paltrow (who played Catherine in the original West End production in 2002), Anthony Hopkins, Hope Davis, and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Plot Summary

Proof, which takes place on the back porch of a Chicago home, is a play about math, familial relationships, and the mixed blessing and curses of heredity. The play’s scenes take place in both the present day and flashbacks.

When the play opens, Catherine is 25 and her father has just died. Robert was a highly celebrated academic and mathematician, and Catherine has spent the last several years caring for him, as he suffered from a debilitating and degenerative mental illness.