Proof
by David Auburn.
Proof won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2001 Tony Award for Best Play.
The play concerns Catherine, the daughter of Robert, a recently deceased mathematical genius and professor at the University of Chicago, and her struggle with mathematical genius and mental illness. It tells the story of an enigmatic young woman haunted by her father’s past and the shadow of her own future. Catherine had cared for her father through a lengthy mental illness, and now faces her 25th birthday with some trepidation. Has she inherited her father’s gifts or his madness? Upon Robert's death, his ex-graduate student Hal discovers a paradigm-shifting proof about prime numbers in Robert's office, amongst dozens of incoherent notebooks. The title refers both to that proof and one of the play's central questions: Can Catherine prove the proof's authorship? The ensuing search for the truth tests Catherine’s relationship with her estranged sister, Claire, and shakes the fragile foundations of her relationship with Hal.
Characters
Robert, former mathematician and professor at the University of Chicago
Catherine, Robert's daughter
Claire, Catherine's Sister
Hal, former student of Robert's
Setting
The back porch of a house in Chicago.