Proof – I’m Convinced by Tina Arth

 

Photo by Beth Moore shows Katie Souza, Amelia Michaels, and Jason Paris

Mask & Mirror’s latest is one of those “stop reading right now, get your tickets, then come back if you are so moved” shows. I would say this if it were playing in a 500-seat theater, but myadvice is all the more urgent because playwright David Auburn’s Proof is on stage at the tiny Tualatin Heritage Center and there are only six remaining performances. The Pulitzer Prize/Tony Award winning play, in the hands of Director Tony Broom and four superb actors, is hands down the most powerful and moving thing I’ve seen since local stages reopened after the pandemic shut-downs. 
 

Other than my general awareness that the play involves mathematical theory, I had no idea what to expect – I had never seen the stage play before, nor have I seen the 2005 movie version. To say that I was blown away is an understatement – the script is brilliant, and clearly informed by the author’s deep understanding of the nuances of both mental illness and the mathematical mind. Even the best script requires careful direction of the right actors to really shine, and Broom has guided his fine cast through both character and plot twists with a subtle, steady and knowing touch.

 

In a spoiler-free nutshell: Catherine (Amelia Michaels) remains in her family home, where she has been caretaker to her recently deceased father Robert (Greg Prosser), a once brilliant mathematician whose mind has succumbed to mental illness. Catherine’s sister Claire (Katie Souza) is determined to convincethe obviously depressed Catherine come live with her in New York. One of Robert’s former students, Hal (Jason Paris), suspects that his previously-gifted mentor may have left a spark of genius in his hundreds of notebooks (many filled with drivel), and he is determined to search them all. By the end, Hal finds both the proof (mathematical) and proof (as in compelling and irrefutable evidence) that nicely ties the strands of the plot writ large and the human relationships together into a satisfying whole.

 

Michaels delivers a master class in acting throughout the show – there was not a moment that she was on stage that I was not riveted by her performance as she revealed herself and developed her very different relationships with her fellow cast members.  During the few times that she was on the sidelines I was torn about who to watch, so my head swiveled back and forth to catch every movement and expression. Prosser’s “Robert” has just the right flat, mindlessly abrasive affect to convey his mental illness, and is surprisingly passionate in the moments when he is (or thinks he is) in control. Souza is hard to love as Claire – trying to be the “good” daughter but coming across as appallingly pushy and domineering – but she ultimately shows us enough of her background to convince us that she’s not a monster. Paris is simply fabulous as Hal – naïve, academically ambitious, good-hearted but utterly clueless in the ways of the world, crushing on his mentor’s daughter and still enamored of his professor’s former brilliance. 

 

A final note – the sets at the Tualatin Heritage Center is notoriously, necessarily minimalist, and never more so than in Mask & Mirror’s staging of Proof where the set décor consists almost completely of a folding table, three chairs, and a snow shovel. I can give no higher praise for this show than to say that it simply doesn’t matter – it’s the performances that make the show, and an elaborate set would have been at best a distraction.

 

Mask & Mirror’s Proof is playing at The Tualatin Heritage Center, 8700 SW Sweek Drive, Tualatin, through Sunday, February 5, with performances at 7:30 on Fridays and Saturdays, 3:00 on Sundays.