This city is fortunate to have Dallas Summer Musicals as a member of its regional theater companies. The folks at DSM are beginning to spoil the metroplex theater patrons by constantly bringing to our city the best that Broadway has to to offer. They brought the dazzling Aida, then the sparkling gem Dirty Blonde and now they have out done themselves by bringing David Auburn's 2001 Tony Award (as well as the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Drama) winning play, Proof.

Proof is an emotional masterpiece about trying to find actual proof in love and acceptance, and the story revolves around mathematics. Auburn's writing soaks into the hearts and minds of the play's characters and brings forth honest, naked, and true emotions. But what I admire more about the script is how it does not lead us into the typical traps or roads that might be expected. The piece instead detours and takes the audience through dark roads of emotion and realizations that achieve what theater was created to bring forth - to make an audience member feel, care, and empathize for the people on the stage.

The play is set on the back porch of a well-weathered house located in Chicago's Hyde Park. In this three bedroom house lived Robert (Robert Foxworth), who passed away a week previous from an aneurysm. Robert was a genius in the mathematical world; in his 20s he created two theories that changed the world of numbers and theories. But as he aged, his brilliant mind began to deteriorate. Robert was also the father of two daughters. Catherine (Chelsea Altman), is the younger one who dropped out of college to take care of her father at home. The older daughter, Claire (Tasha Lawrence), is a Wall Street currency analyst who lives in New York and is to be married. Hal (Stephen Kunken) completes the quartet of actors; he's a former doctoral student of Robert's who now has a teaching position at the University of Chicago. Hal is spending time in the house, reading and doing research on the 103 notebooks left behind by Robert, hoping to discover a new theory.

It is after a night of passion with Hal that Catherine decides to let him see a locked up notebook, and from there we enter a whole new situation that I won't reveal, only to say it creates devastation and cathartic realizations for all three living characters.

The mood of the piece is quickly set by the original music by John Gromada. We then see the incredibly detailed back porch set by John Lee Beatty. You can actually see into the house and the various rooms within. The leaves on the trees around the porch, the chipped paint on the walls, the weathered bricks, dead plants, and other small details create the physical atmosphere to the fullest. Pat Collins' sublime lighting design takes the scene from a hot summer day to a brittle cold December night. This is also greatly aided by Gromada's precise sound design. You can hear a dog bark in the backyard of another house, birds chirping, and the gust of winds of winter.

As a company of four, the actors all deliver magnificent performances. The chemistry among all four thespians is electrifying. But what is so captivating is the way they all play off and react to each other and how they never once drop the "ball of energy" they create. The pace alone deserves kudos. The dialogue is delivered in expeditious pace, making you feel you truly are watching true life unfold on stage.

Chelsea Altman is alluring, transcendent, and radiant as Catherine, one of the hardest characters I've seen written for the theater. Catherine has a roller coaster arc written into her role, but Altman rides it with a vivid and heartbreaking performance. She has a high range of emotions to deliver for the evening, and she succeeds 100 percent throughout her performance. She provides a sharp comic delivery for the comedic aspects of her role, and when she dives into the painful and dark areas of the character, she is heartbreaking. Her acting artistry is simply mesmerizing.

As Catherine's father, Robert Foxworth shows, with full anger and passion, a man who is losing his mind. Foxworth is natural and organic; he wears the skin of his character like a well worn sweater. He brings a masterful range of realism in showing the audience a brilliant professor of mathematics who is now gripping at what is left of the knowledge he once so dearly possessed. The scenes with Foxworth and Altman show heartwarming compassion, but also the constant struggle of father and child. Foxworth is refined and superb.

Tasha Lawrence delivers an enthralling and sensational performance as Claire, who is trying to play catch up and reconnect with her sister and to also somehow resolve her inner guilt for not being there to take care of her dying father. Lawrence is hilarious in her comic scene work, but when she enters the darker dramatic shades of her role, it is powerful acting that she delivers through her acting technique, delivery, and natural facial expressions. The two major dramatic scenes between Altman and Lawrence are acting tours de force that are almost painful to watch. These two actresses peel back the sisters' years of pain, anger, and detachment such that you feel like a guilty stranger watching a horrible fight that is none of your business.

Completing the cast is Stephen Kunden as Hal, a 28 year old educated man who feels he is losing his chance to make something out of his career in theories and numbers. Kunden's Hal is an adult geek who also is a drummer in a rock band. Kunden earns high praise for his acting work in this piece. He uses his face and precision comic timing to hit home runs with the comedy written into his character. But the actor also shows honest compassion and a deep sense of caring and loyalty for Catherine. Kunden evokes both laughter and sympathy from the audience for Hal.

You just can't get a better national tour of this incredible play than this company. It is both powerful and hilarious, as well as deeply moving and provocative.

Proof played Dallas March 5 - 10 and moves next to Minneapolis and Chicago.

Proof
By David Auburn
National Touring Company, Majestic Theater, Dallas, Texas
Presented By Dallas Summer Musicals/Broadway Contemporary Series
Director...........................Daniel Sullivan
Set Design.........................John Lee Beatty
Lighting Design....................Pat Collins
Costume Design.....................Jess Goldstein
Original Music & Sound Design......John Gromada

Cast
Robert..............................Robert Foxworth
Catherine...........................Chelsea Altman
Hal.................................Stephen Kunken
Claire..............................Tasha Lawrence

--John Garcia