Theatre--Review

Drama can present real life in such a way that theatergoers enter another world. Recent area productions have done that. The Teche Theatre for the Performing Arts’ Steel Magnolias carried us (male and female alike) to the world of the “Beauty Salon.,” The University of Lousiana at Lafayette's Performing Arts Department's production of Closer carried us to merry-new-England, and not-so- merry modern love. Cite’ des Arts’ current production of David Auburn’s Proof brings us into the world of mathematics and very the real people who inhabit it. As with many modern dramas, the play debuted at the Manhattan Theatre Club, and moved on to Broadway. But this one then won the Pulitzer Prize, the Drama Desk Award, and the Tony Award for Best Play of 2001.

The essential story involves four characters. Robert (Bill Matthews), an older and respected mathematician has died after descending into some form of mental illness, and has left numerous notebooks full of ravings (mathematical and otherwise). He had been cared for by a college-dropout daughter Catherine (Betty Boudreau) who may or may not have inherited some of her father’s genius. Another sister, Claire (Kayla Lemaire) is in for the funeral and has none of her father’s traits. A former student of Robert’s, Hal (Steven Cooper), who is the only cast member NOT a member of this family, comes on the scene. The story is a mystery (who actually did the proof), a love story (father-daughter, boy-girl, man-profession) and a drama (about doubt, pride, fear, reality, illusion). It is a heady mix. And it is carried out with both intensity and insight under the able direction of Christy Leichty.

Before continuing, and in the spirit of “full disclosure,” this reviewer in his real life is a mathematician (more accurately a math teacher) whose world view has been affected by the very real mathematicians he has met personally and professionally. He knows the frequently stereotyped world of mathematics as a world more passionate and artistic than any other. It is true that mathematicians use symbols on a page –but those are but their language. Their real work is about the underlying realities of universe - what the finger of God has writ in the sands of logic, of structure, and ultimately of reality. Mathematicians use words like “beautiful” or “subtle” or “elegant” to describe their work. To “normal” people it all seems mysterious.

Auburn’s play and director Leichty’s interpretation thereof captured this world artfully. While there are a few math jokes scattered in the play, no real knowledge (or memory of high school Algebra) is needed to follow the plot. Accepting the very real passion of mathematicians is. Opening with a dimly lit flashback scene, the play goes in and out of the real world and the mathematical world as Robert(deceased) and Catherine move in and out of the light. Isn’t that the way we think of mathematics? Sometimes there, sometimes not. The action quickly commences as the relationships of the characters develops. The visiting sister (Claire) is a practical, correct, controlling New Yorker--with all the abrasiveness and superficiality of that city. She quickly conflicts with Catherine, the gifted college-dropout who took time out from her life to care for a father. Catherine has all the grittiness and strength of her home--Chicago--the “Hog Butcher of the World … Stormy, husky, brawling City of the Big Shoulders.” A young mathematician (Hal) arrives and his motivations are soon thrown into the mix. Is he there to truly pay tribute to his mentor; is his relationship with Catherine a real one; is he there for his own professional advancement? The mystery of the show revolves around who actually did the “proof” and various clues to its authorship. Was it Robert in a lucid interlude, or does Catherine perhaps have her father’s mathematical gifts (and instability)?

In the hands of the wonderful Cite’ cast and crew the complexities of the story, the conflicts, and the emotions felt by these characters swirl around us. Director Christy Leichty keeps the entire enterprise under control, with a neat balance between the mathematical world and the real world. The quiet first scene is a pastoral leading to tempests in the second act. The subject matter is the world of abstract mathematics and three fourths (75%, .75, 12/16) of the characters are mathematicians. But we relate to them as the real people they are. Center stage in the drama is Betty Boudreau, whose Catherine is strong, fragile, abrasive, yet tender. Boudreau switches mood and relationship quickly and effortlessly and is a pleasure to watch. Kayla Lemaire’s Claire treads a fine line between “villainy” and “caring sister.” She is an outsider in the group, not caught up in this mathematical world. She is the voice of reality for better or worse. Steven Cooper as the young mathematician, Hal, is an outsider too-–the only non-family member. That separation is clear and he carried out the “professional mathematician” aspect of his role convincingly. He was especially effective in the personal relationship he established with Catherine–-be it love, doubt , support or argument. Bill Matthews as Robert brought a reality and an abstractness to the part-–the reality and abstractness that are part of mathematics. Matthews only previous acting was in high school. Bravo on your re-debut. The simple, evocative, need I say elegant, Craftsman Style “porch” designed by Duncan Thistlewaite, executed by Sarah Briggs and lit by Will Moody helped transport us from a small theater in Lafayette to another world.

This Proof is a short one, and ends on June7. The literate script, the excellent cast, and the first rate production make it a must see you will love. Go, enter Cite’s alternate reality, and you’ll need no more proof!
--Donald “Doc” Voorhies