Proof
The Eclectic Company Theatre presents "Proof," written by David Auburn and originally produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club in 2000. With a Pulitzer Prize on its belt, "Proof" is one of the most sought-after classics of our generation.
Director Taylor Ashbrook guides her actors to bounce the dialogue across the stage throughout the play as if playing a perfect tennis match, especially in the first scene, as Robert (Biff Wiff) speaks to his daughter, Catherine (christine Krebsbach) about missing her on her 25th birthday, having been dead for a few days.
In his prime, Robert was a mathematical genius, renowned for his brilliant discoveries. As his mental and physical health declined, he wrote continuously in notebooks. Unfortunately, his scribblings make no sense to anyone who reads them. Following in her father's footsteps as a math whiz, Catherine finds herself depressed and frightened that she may also inherit her father's mental illness.
Robert's protégé, Hal (Brad Wilcox), searches the notebooks for something brilliant, but with each one he reads, nothing comes to pass. As Hal gains her trust--and her affections--Catherine gives him something he has been searching for: the proof of a heretofore unsolvable theory about prime numbers, contained in a single notebook locked in one of Robert's desk drawers. "You will get credit for discovering this," Hal excitedly tells Catherine. "I didn't discover it," she argues. "I wrote it."
Catherine's well-meaning but intruding sister, Claire (Janel Miley), having arrived from New York for the funeral after years of estrangement, advises Claire that she has sold the house and wants Claire to come live with her and her husband in New York. Claire refuses to believe that Catherine is the author of the notebook. After all, it is her father's handwriting. Hal becomes swayed by Claire's doubt. He is given permission to take the notebook to be analyzed by his scientist friends.
Hal, returns the next day and reveals to Catherine why he knows the true identity of the notebook's author.
Krebsbach's depressing character is likable and realistically portrayed, which isn't an easy task with such negative qualities; however, Janel Miley has scattered sequences of potential, having dropped the ball during several integral moments within the play. Biff Wiff and Brad Wilcox are equally magical in talent, moving the story along with comfort and ease, unsubtly outshining the two female leads.
The set, designed by John Dickey, is the back porch of a home in a far-off suburb of Chicago. The porch is as real as any you will see on Broadway or, moreover, your own backyard (that is, until the door is opened and we are taken out of the make believe world as we view the blank, black wall of a stage).
Rather than blackouts between scenes, Lighting Designer Rebecca Bonebrake exhibits her massive talent by using the lighting as an hourglass, passing time along just slowly enough to give the chance for a costume change and fast enough to spare us boredom.
My reaction to "Proof" is to second guess the laudability of its Pulitzer Prize. However, the story was entertaining enough to applaud, and the company's hard work was strong enough to enjoy!
ON A GRADING SCALE - A-