NYC Theater Trip 2026: "Proof" at the Booth Theatre

Show*: 4

Title: Proof

Location: The Booth Theatre

Written By: David Auburn

Summary: A revival of the 2001 Tony-winning play that was so popular it went on tour and was adapted into a film, about a math professor and his daughter who share an exceptional ability for math, and also possibly a tendency towards mental illness.

"Proof" at Lyric Arts

The 2001 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play Proof comes to Lyric Arts' Main Street Stage in downtown Anoka. David Auburn's play stands the test of time; it's relatable and moving not just for math nerds like myself (the title refers to a mathematical proof, among other things) but for everyone going through the human experiences of grief, loss, love, mental illness, and identity crisis. It's really a family dramedy, set in the world of Chicago academic mathematicians. An excellent four-person cast and detailed design bring out all the nuances in this beautifully written play. It officially opens tonight and runs for just three weeks, so act quickly to see this fine production of a 21st Century classic.

"tick, tick... BOOM!" by Minneapolis Musical Theatre at Bryant Lake Bowl

Before Jonathan Larson wrote RENT, for which he posthumously received the Pulitzer Prize, he wrote and performed in an autobiographical one-man musical in the early '90s about being a struggling musical theater composer living in NYC. After his tragic death the night before the first Off-Broadway preview of RENT, the eventual smash hit that what would become his legacy, this little show was reworked into a three-person piece by playwright David Auburn and produced Off-Broadway in the early aughts. Being a RENThead, I saw tick, tick... BOOM! on tour at that time, but I don't recall there ever being a local production of it. Leave it to Minneapolis Musical Theatre, whose motto is "rare musicals, well done" to bring us this charming little show that very clearly displays the seeds that would become RENT. With a fantastic cast in the intimate theater space at Bryant Lake Bowl, it's a very satisfying evening for RENTheads, musical theater history buffs, and anyone who likes a rock musical with heart and humor.

"Proof" at Bloomington Civic Theatre

I've attended a half dozen or so musicals at Bloomington Civic Theater and have always enjoyed what I've seen, but I've never been to their Black Box Theater to see a play. Bloomington is a bit of a drive from my home in the Northeast suburbs, so it took a special play to get me there for a non-musical. That play is Proof, my second favorite math play (the first being Tom Stoppard's Arcadia). Of course it's not really about math; math is the backdrop against which a very real and powerful story about family, identity, and metal illness is told. It's a beautifully written play (by David Auburn), and director Alan Sorenson and his able cast do a good job of bringing it to life. I was wiping away tears at several points during the play, which speaks to the emotions in the written words as well as in the performances.

Proof premiered on Broadway in 2000 and won the Tony for Best Play. I saw it on tour in 2002, which is proof (sorry) of it's popularity since Broadway plays don't go on tour as often as musicals. It tells the story of a young woman named Catherine whose father, a renowned mathematician, has just died. She took care of him in the final years of his life as his mental health deteriorated. In that time he filled 100 notebooks with gibberish, or is it mathematical genius? Similar to the movie A Beautiful Mind (based on the biography of mathematician Jon Nash), he sees patterns and codes everywhere, and it's difficult to decipher the difference between madness and genius. One of his former students, Hal, comes over to the house to go through the journals to see if there's anything of value. At the same time, Catherine's sister arrives from New York and tells her she's sold the house, and wants Catherine to move to New York with her. When Hal discovers one beautiful, complicated, ground-breaking proof, Catherine says that she wrote it. No one believes her since she's had little schooling; she dropped out of college to take care of her father. It's obvious she has inherited her father's mathematical skill, but has she also inherited his mental illness? That's the question that Catherine struggles with as she tries to figure out who she is without her crazy genius father to take care of and define her life.

This is Catherine's story, and Erin Mae Johnson is up to the task of conveying her varying emotions, from devastation at the loss of her father, to excitement at the possibility of new love, to betrayal when those closest to her don't believe in her. Scott Keely is excellent as her father, seen in flashbacks and hallucinations, becoming more and more unraveled as he descends further into his illness. Also good are Bailey Murphy as the businesslike sister who wants to wrap everything up neatly and move on with her life, and Zach Garcia as the enthusiastic math scholar Hal who befriends Catherine as he tries to glean something from what her father left behind.

Proof is a fantastic play, emotional and powerful and funny at times, presented nicely by BCT. You don't have to be a math nerd like me to enjoy it, but if you are, you'll learn some interesting facts about prime numbers and mathematician Sophie Germain, and enjoy a few inside jokes, like the one about a song called i. Proof is playing now through October 6 in BCT's Black Box Theater (discount tickets available at Goldstar.com).