Photos by Jason Ganwich
Proo(ƒ) at Dukesbay
reviewed by Alec Clayton
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| Chevi Chung as Catherine and Amy Van Michelen as Claire |
David Auburn’s drama Proof won the 2001 Pulitzer
Prize for drama and the Tony Award for best play. Dukesbay
Productions’ treatment is proof positive that this play deserves all the awards
it has earned, and after almost 20 years it is not at all dated.
Director and Dukesbay co-founder Randy Clark wrote what is
probably the most succinct director’s note ever published in a playbill. He
wrote, “Proof is one of my favorite plays. I think it is perfect.
Fortunately, I have a talented ensemble to bring this gem to life. I hope you
enjoy it.”
I should not have to say any more than that, plus listing the
names of the cast members, to entice theater lovers from around Western
Washington to flock to the little Dukesbay Theater. But I can’t resist the urge
to say more.
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| Chevi Chung and Nick Fitzgerald as Hall |
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| Chevi Chung and Erik Hill as Robert |
Proof is intense, sad, angry and surprisingly funny. You will love
and definitely root for its protagonist, Catherine (Chevi Chung), feel loads of
admiration and empathy for her father, Robert (Erik Hill) and his student and
her friend Hal (Nick Fitzgerald), and I’m afraid you might want to strangle
Catherine’s sister Claire (Amy Van Mechelen), the epitome of a meddling, manipulative
do-gooder family member. And you will be emotionally swept into the net of
their tangled lives as you sit mere feet away from the actors in the tiny space
of Dukesbay Theater.
Auburn’s script is a masterpiece of structure and insight,
complex, multi-layered and easy to follow, and the acting by the entire cast is
superb.
It opens the day of Robert’s funeral. He and Catherine are
sharing a bottle of champagne. Whether it is her hallucination, a memory or a
fantasy doesn’t matter. It establishes the complex relationship between father
and daughter. He was a mathematical genius who suffered from mental illness and
was unable to function during the final years of his life while Catherine was
his sole caretaker. Catherine has inherited his math genius and, she is afraid,
his mental illness.
Enter Hal, one of Robert’s former graduate students who has
been given Catherine’s permission to examine the hundreds of notebooks Robert
has left behind.
Catherine’s sister Claire flies in from New York and tries to
take over Catherine’s life, and wants to take her home to New York with her and
has made plans to have her examined for mental illness.
The relationships between these four characters are
explosive. There are tears and laughter and incriminations, and the “F-word” is
tossed about liberally.
Each of the cast members brings extensive experience to the
stage, and together they are incredible. Chung is an accomplished actor, director and fight consultant. She was Assistant Director, dramaturg and fight choreographer for Dukesbay’s recent production of Agnes of God. Hill is a member of
SAG/AFTRA and has appear in film and television. He was seen in Lakewood Playhouse’s
recent two-part Angels in America. Fitzgerald is a recent Theater Arts
graduate from Washington State University and has appeared in such shows as Twelfth
Night, Newsies and The Glass Menagerie. Van Mechelen played
Hiromi in Dukesbay’s Calligraphy and is an opera singer who has
performed as a soloist in Seattle Opera’s Porgy and Bess. Clark called
this foursome a “talented ensemble,” which is an understatement if there ever
was one.
Performances are selling out quickly. Buying tickets quickly and online is recommended.
Proof
7:30 p.m., Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday through Nov. 17
Dukesbay Theater, 508 6th Ave., Tacoma, above the
Grand Cinema
Admission includes your choice of coffee, tea and an
assortment of cookies.
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