Death. Romance. Family tension. Math problems. These are just a few of the themes touched on in the Madison Theatre Guild's presentation of Proof,"" showing this month at the Bartell Theatre.
In ""Proof,"" playwright David Auburn tells the story of a Chicago family in the midst of tragedy. Auburn molds a story that brings together the hardships of everyday life with the complexities of the mathematical world. This backdrop provides for an excellent show enhanced by moving performances from the actors.
The play begins with a young woman named Catherine in her early 20s sitting on her back porch and talking to her father Robert, a prominent mathematics professor. Catherine and Robert engage in a discussion that reveals a tension in the family between the father's obsessive work life and the daughter's life ambitions.
In an instant of pure dramatic effect, the audience discovers through this conversation that Robert has died, and Catherine has bared the burden of planning his untimely funeral. Jessica Jane Witham and Stuart Brooks, who play Catherine and Robert, respectively, share an on-stage magnetism that reflects the intrinsic relationship between father and daughter.
Meanwhile, Catherine must deal with her overzealous yet affectionate sister, Claire, played by Susan Finque. Claire relentlessly tries to convince Catherine to sell her father's house and move in with her and her husband in New York. The audience can relate to the sibling rivalry that Catherine and Claire display, one that slowly but surely transforms into a collective struggle to overcome the grief of their father's loss.
As the play progresses, the audience learns through several flashbacks that Robert had fallen into bouts with schizophrenia, and that Catherine took care of him until his death. Robert's health struggles not only drew him away from his career, but prevented Catherine from pursuing her own ambitions.
Throughout the course of the play, a romance sparks between Catherine and Hal, one of her father's former students, played by Nathan Figueroa. Hal desperately wants to carry on Robert's legacy through the work he left behind. However, his relationship with Catherine reveals a startling truth about one of Robert's many notebooks and shows just how much of Robert's legacy Catherine carries with her.
One of the play's great triumphs is that it brings forth a simple elegance that contrasts with the heavy issues at hand. The audience sees the entire story unfold on a quiet, unassuming back porch of a Chicago home. Picnic tables and lawn mowers parallel family quarrels and passionate romances. ""Proof"" succeeds in taking the complex problems of academia and relating them to the complex problems of life, amid the serenity of a simple setting.
""Proof"" has previously received honors and awards from the theater community. The play won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001. It also won the Tony Award in that same year for the category of Best Play. And in 2005, David Auburn co-wrote a film version of ""Proof"" which starred Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins and Jake Gyllenhaal.
""Proof"" runs through this Saturday, Feb. 21, at the Bartell Theatre on 113 E. Mifflin St. off of Capitol Square.
