OCEANSIDE–Oceanside Theatre Company will present David Auburn’s play, “Proof” this Friday at the Brooks Theatre.
“Proof” is winner of 2001 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for Best Play. The story unfolds on the eve of Catherin’s twenty-fifth birthday, a troubled young woman, who has spent years caring for her brilliant but unstable father, a famous mathematician. Now, following his death, she must deal with her own volatile emotions; 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 her father 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?
In the play, featuring actors Kate Schott, Dylan Christopher, James Winkler, and Dhyana Dahl, we learn about a young woman, who inherited much of her father’s mathematical genius and, she fears, his “instability” as well; she gave up her life and schooling to take care of her father until his recent death. We also learn about her older sister, a practical and business-minded woman who has been comfortably successful in her work and relationships, she left the family to make a new life for herself in New York City. We meet a recently deceased mathematician praised for his groundbreaking work in his youth, but whose later years were plagued by delusional mental illness. And we encounter PhD students, who the genius was able to mentor while his illness went into remission.
Performances are Fridays and Saturdays 7:30 pm and Sundays 2 pm from February 5 to 21 at The Brooks Theatre, 217 North Coast Hwy, Oceanside. The play is directed by Christopher Williams, the theatre’s Artistic Director.
Tickets at www.oceansidetheatre.org, or call (760) 433-8900 for more information.