Riverfront Theater Company opens ‘Proof,’ postponed nearly 2 years by pandemic
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Days before the country shut down for the covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, Riverfront Theater Company was gearing up for its production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Proof.”
Fast forward nearly two years, and the cast and crew is almost more excited this time around to perform the 2000 drama by David Auburn.
“The show was shuttered three days prior to its opening,” said Hillary Santel, director of media and publicity. “This production is a labor of love, and we look forward to finally raising the curtain on this groundbreaking play.”
Performances take place Thursday through Saturday and return for a second round, Nov. 18-20 at Allegheny RiverTrail Park, just off Freeport Road in Aspinwall.
Tickets start at $20 for general admission and are sold online at riverfronttheaterco.org.
“I read this script for the first time about five years ago and felt a connection to it,” said Kaili Doud, a resident of Pittsburgh’s Friendship neighborhood who landed the lead role of Catherine. “I’m super thrilled to get to perform it as a part of this awesome cast and excited to finally press play.”
“Proof” centers on Catherine, a woman in her 20s who has been taking care of her father, a brilliant but unstable mathematician.
When Catherine’s father passes away, she has to deal with her own mercurial personality amid fallout with her sister, Claire, and interest from a former student of her father’s who can’t wait to comb through the 103 notebooks that he left behind.
Santel said the audience is thrust into Catherine’s struggle of inheriting her father’s madness and intelligence.
Rebekah Hukill plays Claire. The Wilkinsburg resident said “Proof” has long been a stage favorite after first reading it as a young actor.
“It gave me an idea of the theater I wanted to be doing,” Hukill said. “I worked on a scene from it in college and it was probably the scene I worked hardest on and was most proud of. Coming back to it a little older and hopefully wiser has been really fun.”
Hukill, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Point Park University, said she’s been “enthusiastically” involved in performances since childhood but realized her passion during high school theater.
“I enjoy the fact that the only thing that matters is the moment and the task at hand,” Hukill said. “Whatever is happening in my real life or even what happened during the last costume or set change doesn’t matter. All that matters is conveying the story.
“It’s terrifying, but also freeing.”
Likewise, Doud loves bringing a story to life while sharing emotional energy with a live audience.
“It’s a special and immediate kind of experience for everyone,” she said.
Doud has participated in productions since middle school and since then, has lovingly “driven friends and coworkers crazy with odd voices and theatrics.”
“Proof” is her first full-length stage performance in Pittsburgh.
Aspinwall resident Jim Froehlich landed the role of Robert. Jamie McDonald of Etna will play Hal. The show is produced by Jenna Bowman and Randi Ippolito.
Director Sydney Turnwald of Scott said the beauty of the script lies in the strength of the relationships.
“ ‘Proof’ deals very directly with complicated relationships, and I love the way it presents how our own internal anxieties both come from and affect the external relationships around us,” Turnwald said.
“The way the characters treat the situations they find themselves in have always felt very real to me and I think that is something that will appeal to the audience. I think they’ll understand very well why the characters make the choices that they do.”