Proof
By David Auburn
June 29, 30 & July 1, 6, 7, 8, at 8 p.m.
July 2 and 9 at 2 p.m.
Parker Theatre
Catherine is a troubled young woman who has spent years caring for her brilliant but unstable father, Robert. On the eve of her twenty-fifth birthday, Catherine must deal not only with his death but with the arrival of her estranged sister, Claire, and with the attentions of Hal, a former student of her father’s who hopes to find valuable work in the 103 notebooks that Robert left behind. As Catherine confronts Hal’s affections and Claire’s plans for her life, she struggles to solve the most perplexing problem of all: How much of her father’s madness – or genius – will she inherit? One of the most acclaimed plays of recent seasons; Proof explores the enigmatic nature of love as much as it does the mystery of mathematics.
From an initial off-Broadway run at the Manhattan Theatre Club Proof moved to Broadway, and then to a national tour, after picking up the Joseph Kesselring Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, the Drama Desk Award, and the Tony Award for Best Play of 2001.
Talley’s Folly
By Lanford Wilson
July 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22 at 8 p.m.
July 16 and 23 at 2 p.m.
Parker Theatre
Lanford Wilson’s romantic comedy Talley’s Folly shows one evening in the courtship of two unlikely lovers, Sally Talley and Matt Friedman. Sally is from a conservative, small-town, wealthy family of intolerant Protestants, and Matt is a Jewish accountant twelve years older than Sally. The story of how they become brave enough to reveal their most painful secrets touched audiences and critics alike, and the play’s Broadway run was a great success. First produced in 1979, the play was nominated for several Tony awards and won the Pulitzer Prize and other awards in 1980. More than two decades after its first production, Talley’s Folly is frequently staged and is considered one of Wilson’s most hopeful and affirming plays.
Talley’s Folly is the second of three plays in what came to be known as Wilson’s Talley Family series. The first play in the saga, Fifth of July, takes place in 1977, as members of the Talley family struggle with capitalism and the Vietnam War. Among the characters is the recently widowed Aunt Sally, who values the family home more than she values money. When the actress playing Sally in the original production of Fifth of July asked Wilson for help in understanding her character, he wrote Talley’s Folly to show how Sally and her husband Matt became a couple in 1944. Two years later Wilson added a third episode to the story, Talley & Son. |
