‘Proof’

Langhorne Players stages David Auburn’s drama at Tyler State Park in Newtown, Pa.

By: Stuart Duncan
   The latest group to stage David Auburn’s Proof is Langhorne Players at its intimate former mill in Tyler State Park in Newtown, Pa. Auburn’s play has been turned into a Hollywood film, starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Hope Davis, Jake Gyllenhaal and Anthony Hopkins. As is customary, the film people cannot leave a little gem alone, so apparently the cast of four has been expanded to include lots of extras — partygoers, students and so forth. We can expect the movie to open in this area during the Christmas season and only then will we be able to judge how badly the stage play has been distorted.
   You will remember that the story (told in nine scenes over two acts) revolves around Catherine, living in Chicago, who has been taking care of her ailing father, once a genuine math wizard, his work long past, touched by insanity in his later years. The father has just died as the play begins and Catherine’s older sister, Claire, has flown in from New York to "help out," highly officious, trying to take Catherine back to Manhattan with her and, of course, prepared to sell the old family homestead in the process.
   One of the father’s graduate students, an apparently charming young man named Hal, has shown up to delve through the old man’s notebooks, in hopes of garnering any gems that conceivably might have been dropped in the few moments of reason the past years might have held. Catherine actually helps him find one such gem, but she also claims to have written it herself. It’s obviously of great importance, perhaps even to the entire math world.
   Langhorne director Robert Norman has a strong cast, headed by Shelli Pentimall as Catherine, back in the area after attending the Actor’s Studio in New York, and Keegan Brown (formerly Michael Brown when he was at Bucks County Playhouse in such shows as Godspell, Footloose and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat). Langhorne favorites Marty Sherman and Heather McDaniel play the father and older sister respectively. This production is notable first for the intense underlying jealousies between the two sisters, felt but not expressed. And secondly, the aching need for Hal, the grad student, and Catherine to find something each can hold onto.
   A large stage construction crew, including the director, has built the back porch area of the family home in the university district, nicely lit by Richard Stockwell.
Proof continues at Spring Garden Mill, Tyler State Park, Route 332, Newtown, Pa., through May 14. Performances: Thurs. 7:30 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 8:30 p.m. Tickets cost $10-$12. For information, call (215) 860-0818. On the Web: www.langhorneplayers.org