Tony Award winner for Best Play, Proof will make its Queen Street Playhouse (QSP) debut on February 2nd in a new production produced by Footlight Players under direction by Jackson Clark Haywood (Misery, Who's Holiday).
Giulia Dalbec makes a quick return to the QSP stage after a wildly successful run as Cindy Lou Who in Who's Holiday. This time, she is taking on the very different role of the complex, brazen and brilliant Catherine in David Auburn's Proof. Haunted by her late father's mathematical genius and the real fear of inheriting his mental illness, Catherine 'isn't a perfect "hero" of a main character, she's flawed and (i think) we can all relate to that feeling of just trying to get by when everything seems to go so wrong' notes director Haywood.
Proof, on the surface, is a simple story about family dynamics and mathematics but is so much more complex than it seems. The play starts with Cat sitting in her backyard waiting for one of her father's students to finish reviewing some of his final work before he passed. As the play unfolds, we experience the rollercoaster of feelings that occur when two sisters are grieving and saying goodbye to their father, only to be pulled into his world of academia. When a revolutionary mathematic proof is found that could change the academic study of math all over the world, its authorship is questioned and challenged. As Cat navigates her own academic journey in the wake of her brilliant father, we see the challenges she faces as a woman in a male-dominated world. This is compounded by the perception of her mental state - she has inherited her father's brilliance without question...but does her brilliance come at the same cost?
Rounding out the cast are Michael Okas (The Last Five Years, The Full Monty) as Hal, Chad Estel (The Legend of Georgia McBride) as Robert and newcomer Meghan Lowther as Claire. Variety calls Proof 'A wonderfully funny…ambitiously constructed work' while New York Daily News hails it as 'a compelling evening of theatre'.
Proof opens at the Queen Street Playhouse Friday Feb. 2nd and runs through Feb. 18th. Tickets and more info at footlightplayers.net or 843.722.4487
