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Proof
Actors' Summit Theatre

A brief respite from the teaching mode. Neil asked me to direct another play this time starring his daughter, son-in-law and himself. In any other family this would raise red flags and cause one to run screaming from the theatre, but iin this case, I jumped at the chance. His daughter and son-in-law are both graduates of the Actors' Studio in NYC. I had worked with daughter Connie on a radio project when she was but a whelp and knew that be it nurture or nature, she had inherited serious chops. He husband Keith Stevens was probably one of the best if not the best student I had had at Cleveland State. Keith had recently been asked to be a life member of the Actors' Studio--a singular honor. The only cast member left to cast was Claire's older sister. Neil gave me Alicia Kahn. Alicia had been my assistant teaching a Shakespeare workshop for the Fairmount Cent;er a few years earlier. I knew her to be a terrific actress and vy brainy. Casting is 90%. What a joy to be able to work with a dream cast.

This was nonetheless a challenging task.

A sampling of the reviews:

Free Times Alive And Well Actors' Summit Has Proof! By Jean Seitter Cummins

...Actors' Summit's current production is proof that storytelling still works. It's a dazzling gem of a piece that examines the facets of human relationships using mathematics as a metaphor. Set in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood in the shadow of "The University," Proof stars Neil Thackaberry as Robert, a crusty old mathematician moving in and out of dementia. He is cared for by his daughter Catherine, played by Thackaberry's own daughter Constance, who has inherited the mathematician's brilliance as well as, she fears, his instability. After years of living in isolation, her own sanity is in jeopardy until a "gentleman caller" - one of the professor's former students - arrives on the scene.
Keith Stevens makes a very engaging Dobbs, a man of such integrity and generosity that we are almost afraid to trust his motives. Is it Catherine he's really interested in or her father's notebooks? The give- and-take as their fragile relationship evolves is a delight to watch. (Those sparks are real. Connie and Keith are a real- life husband and wife, part of the extended family at the heart of Actors' Summit.) Completing the cast is Alicia Kahn in the role of Claire, the meddling but well-meaning Manhattan sister who wants to airlift the family's problems from Chicago to New York in the belief that everything is better - trendier, hipper, even warmer - than on the shores of Lake Michigan.
It's a near-perfect cast, and director Wayne Turney explores all the nuances of this brilliant script....Proof is an old-fashioned script with a focus on human values and emotions but it's new-fashioned, too, in the way scenes move backward and forward in time, each one ending with a question that requires more information, more engagement to unravel. We believe that we are solving a puzzle when in truth we are sharing the fragmented life of a family that is both loving and dysfunctional. ...? It's engaging, meaningful, funny, and tragic - everything you're looking for, and all the proof you need that theater is alive and well in Northeast Ohio.

Akron Beacon Journal Actor's Summit shines in award-winning play By Elaine Guregian

Proof is a play about math only in the way that The Wizard of Oz was a play about tornadoes. Math is what drives three of the main characters in David Auburn's 2001 Tony Award-winning play, but it's not the point of the drama. In the Actor's Summit's excellent new production, a family sorts itself out, not through mathematical proofs but through honest, often raw, dialogue,
Friday night, director Wayne Turney led one of the strongest shows I've seen by the Hudson company

THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS 'PROOF' adds up at ACTORS' SUMMIT By Roy Berko (Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

...Actors' Summit's production, under the guidance of Wayne Turney, is excellent. It is well paced and each of the actors develops a clear character....Actors' Summit's 'PROOF' is a well conceived production of an excellent script. There isn't a weak link in the production chain.

West Side Leader 'Proof' theatrical magic at Actors' Summit By David Ritchey

"We must all ultimately decide what we believe to be true in order to function rationally in an often irrational world. But do we know what we believe is true?"
With these words, Director Wayne Turney concludes his notes in the program of "Proof," which is now on stage at Actors' Summit Theater.
What is truth?
What do we believe to be true?
...In 2001, Playwright David Auburn received the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize for "Proof." Since that time, the play has received numerous productions. This is the sixth time I've seen "Proof," which includes two Broadway performances and one each in London (with Gwyneth Paltrow), Cleveland Play House, Weathervane Community Playhouse and, now, Actors' Summit.
...Turney has made this an interesting, moving production. He is an exacting director who makes every movement, every hesitation and every line move the story forward. He does not permit a performer to waste a moment of energy or time.
...This is an excellent production of "Proof." Seldom do audiences get to see an excellent script, well directed and beautifully acted. When all of the elements fall in place, it's good theatrical magic.