David Auburn’s Pulitzer and Tony-Award-winning play “Proof” examines complicated familial relationships, inheritance, legacy, trust, identity and mental health through one family.
Arizona Theatre Company (ATC) is presenting the play in Tucson through Saturday, Oct. 17 at the Temple of Music and Art.
They will also produce the show in Tempe Saturday, Oct. 24, to Sunday, Nov. 8, at the Tempe Center for the Arts.
In “Proof,” Catherine, the daughter of renowned mathematician Robert, is dealing with the grief over the passing of her father and clashing with her older sister Claire over his estate. When her father’s former student Hal goes through Robert’s papers and discovers a ground-breaking proof, a debate ensures over its true author.
A 2005 film was adapted from the play. It starred Gwyneth Paltrow as Catherine, Anthony Hopkins as Robert and Jake Gyllenhaal as Hal.
The play is kicking off ATC’s 59th season.
They will also be producing “Little Shop of Horrors,” “The Play That Goes Wrong,” “Gem of the Ocean” and “Killing Kit-A Shakespearean Murder Mystery.”
In “Proof,” Daytime Emmy winner Kate Mansi is portraying Catherine. The show also stars Scott Lowell as Robert, Emma Childe Maltby as Claire and Rishan Dhamija as Hal.
Lowell is best known for playing Ted Schmidt in “Queer as Folk.”
Mansi, who is based out of Los Angeles, has been in “Days of Our Lives,” “General Hospital,” “Casa Grande” and “How I Met Your Mother.”
She recently starred in a regional production of “If All the Sky Were Paper” at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles”
Mansi recently co-wrote, directed, produced and starred in an autobiographic short film called “Oh Sh!t,” which has made a festival run this season.
Mansi first connected with the character of Catherine when she used one of her monologues from “Proof” while auditioning for an acting conservatory.
“I was 19, and I was just getting into acting. When I first read the play, I really responded to Catherine…Catherine’s always been a gateway for me into acting, and it’s really special that it’s come full circle now all these years later,” Mansi said.
Mansi said she really connects with the character because of her connection with her father.
“It’s a beautiful play about the relationship between a father and a daughter, and I’m quite close with my father…. Catherine really is in a transformational time in her life. When you start the play, she’s suspended between the past and the future of what she will become. She’s spent a lot of years caring for her father, for Robert, and his death leaves her without a role that she’s allowed to define her for so many years. When he passes, it gives Catherine a freedom to get her life back and her sense of identity back and to start exploring herself again. It also leaves behind a deep sadness and mourning for the loss of her father,” Mansi said.
Mansi said she can also relate to Catherine because she has a sister.
In her portrayal, she hopes to showcase the character’s strength and vulnerabilities.
“Catherine is tough. She doesn’t cower down. She’s not afraid to be challenged, but since she’s been taking care of her father in his last few years, she’s lost a lot of herself. She’s now working hard to reclaim her own sense of self, her own identity, and separating herself from who her father was…. She knows she possibly inherited a lot of her father’s brilliance mathematically and also some of his instability. That’s what she’s grappling with,” Mansi said.
During her career, Mansi has had a chance to portray a number of complicated characters.
“I tend to play characters who have very strong opinions and are very tough and scrappy… I think the similarities are that underneath the tough exteriors are really sensitive people,” Mansi said.
Mansi said the show is about very heavy topics, but it does have moments of levity and humor sprinkled throughout it.
“Catherine has a wicked sense of humor. She’s very dry and witty. She’s got some great scenes with her sister Claire… Like in life, there’s real moments of light and humor. The subject matter feels heavy, but it doesn’t leave you on a dark note,” Mansi said.
Mansi said the show highlights topics that resonate with today’s audiences, such as societal roles and power dynamics.
“It really looks at gender roles and the importance for women to continue to fight to have their voice be heard. We come from a history of being overlooked in favor of a man’s opinion or a man’s knowledge before our own,” Mansi said.
Mansi said the play has the potential to start conversations after the show, especially about mental difference and mental health.
The play also looks at the impact of caretaking on a person and on a family.
“Is it being there physically? Is it writing a check to make sure that they’re taken care of? Does it mean that you care more because you’re there physically? Does it mean you care equally if you’re just taking care of them financially? There’s different facets of caretaking that we can inhabit for the people that we love. It really asks the question of, ‘How do you care for your loved ones, and what does it take out of you?” Mansi said.
Mansi said in doing a play, she has been able to use skills she honed working in TV.
“No one works harder than soap actors. We do a 104-page count a day. It really has been wonderful for me to see the stamina that I’ve built over the years… I was quite afraid of how am I going to memorize all these lines and how am I going to do a whole play? In essence, you’re doing that every day in daytime? I honestly think the best results always come from a cast that’s really trained and experienced and really cares about the material. We’re very lucky to have that,” Mansi said.
David Ira Goldstein is returning to ATC to direct “Proof.”
Goldstein, the company’s artistic director emeritus, led ATC for more than 20 years, starting in 1992. During his tenure, he directed and produced over 200 plays.
This is Goldstein’s first time directing “Proof,” but he did produce it for ATC during the 2001-2002 season. Goldstein said it was one of the first regional productions of the show after it was on Broadway.
The last production he directed for ATC was “The Diary of Anne Frank” during the 2017-2018 season.
He decided to return because he thought the play would be meaningful for the cast, crew and audiences.
“I knew that if I came back, I would want it to be something special, a wonderful play that connects with so many people. ‘Proof’ filled the bill… It’s been quite joyful. We have a terrific cast…. We’ve been really able to create in the rehearsal hall, try things, invent, build a company, things you want to do when you’re directing a play. There’s no point in my doing it anymore unless it can be done well and with people I respect and like,” Goldstein said.
The show takes place in the late ‘90s near the University of Chicago.
“I don’t think it could be set today because you’d have to be dealing with AI and digital computers. These were handwritten proofs. It means he was active in the ‘80s and ‘90s before it was all computerized… There’s no cell phones. There’s no computers. There’s no iPads. If you were doing a play about academia that took place today, there’d be all that stuff,” Goldstein said.
Goldstein said the math in “Proof” is explained in the show and isn’t overly complicated, but he did get a professor from the University of Arizona to come out and talk to the cast.
“That was really fun because he is the father of a daughter. He talked a lot about what it meant to be a mathematician and bring up a daughter,” Goldstein said.
Goldstein said the show is more about the characters and their relationships with each other than the math, even though it is part of the show.
“It’s about fathers and daughters. It’s about mental health. I think at the base, it’s about trust. It’s about people learning to trust each other, Hal learning to trust Catherine and Catherine learning to trust Hal. It’s about family, and I think that makes it really universal…. The thing people really want in theater is human connection and truth. I sit in rehearsal, and all I try to do is watch what the actors are doing, see what’s truthful and then build on that,” Goldstein said.
Throughout the rehearsal process, Goldstein wanted to create a collaborative environment where the actors learned from and inspired each other.
“As a director, it’s a delight to sit back and see those interactions because in a play like this, it’s all about the company,” Goldstein said.
Arizona Theatre Company’s Production of “Proof” Tucson Performances
WHEN: Through Saturday, Oct. 17
WHERE: Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Avenue, Tucson
COST: Tickets start at $33
INFO: atc.org
Arizona Theatre Company’s Production of “Proof” Tempe/Phoenix Performances
WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 24 to Sunday, Nov. 8
WHERE: Tempe Center for the Arts, 700 W. Rio Salado Parkway, Tempe
COST: Tickets start at $33
INFO: atc.org
