Show and Tell #2

I chose to read the play, Proof, for the second show and tell. In the class, theatre 2025, I performed a scene from this play, but didn't know much about it. I decided to read it to see why my character, Catherine, was so strange. Catherine's father, Robert, is recently deceased. Catherine is pretty devastated seeing that she dropped out of school to take care of her father. Her struggle with mental illness and mathematical genius sends her in a crazy spiral. Hal, one of Robert's previous students, finds a proof in Robert's office. Through the play, Catherine tries to prove that she is the one who wrote it and not her father, but no one has yet seen her write any "proofs". All anyone knows is that Roberts is the genius and he writes the proofs. Also, by proving her authorship, she begins a relationship with Hal. Catherine constantly tries to stay in control of every situation and is desperate not to follow in her father's mental and math footsteps. She just wants a normal life. Her sister, Claire, visits for her father's funeral and begs and tries to convince Catherine to move to New York with her. I sense in this particular scene, that Claire is tired of paying for her no-good sister, Catherine, and wants to just lock her up in an institute just like she wanted for her father. Catherine tries proving her worth and shows Claire how much better off she is by herself and living in the same house that they've lived in for years. Also, a big conflict in the play is that Catherine has just turned twenty-seven: the exact age Robert, her father, became mentally ill and stopped teaching his students. This is very scary for Catherine and she realizes that she does not want to be like him, but she is more like him than she realizes or wishes.