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Table of Contents

For Teachers and Students• For Teachers: Using this Study Guide 4• For Students: The Role of the Audience 5

Exploring the Play • Proof Plot Summary 6–8• Understanding Plot: Sequencing Events 9• Create a Timeline 10• Cause and Effect in Proof 11• About the Play and Playwright 12–13• Proof of What Happens When You Just Let Go 14• What Is a Proof? 15• Questions to Chew On 16• Sophie Germain 17• Women in Math: Fast Facts 18• Mental Illness 19• A Conversation with the Directors 20• Hyde Park, Chicago 21• Dear Diary 22• Missing Scene Improvisation 23• Quiz 24

Resources• STUDENT/Student Matinee Evaluation• TEACHER/Student Matinee Evaluation

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How to use this Study Guide

This guide is arranged in worksheets. Each worksheet or reading may be used independently or in conjunction with

others to serve your educational goals. Together, the worksheets prepare students for the workshops, as well as seeing

the student matinee of Proof produced by TheatreWorks, and for discussing the performance afterwards.

Throughout the guide you will see several symbols:

Means “Photocopy Me!” Pages with this symbol are meant to be photocopied and handed directly to students.

Means “English Language Arts.” Pages with this symbol feature lessons that are catered toCalifornia State English Language Arts standards.

Means “Theatre Arts.” Pages with this symbol feature lessons that are catered to California State Theatre Arts standards.

Means “Social Studies.” Pages with this symbol feature lessons that are catered to California State Social Studies standards.

For Teachers

The student matinee performance of Proof will be held on October 29, 2015 at 11:00 am, at the Mountain View Center

for Performing Arts. The production is approximately 2 hours including a 15 minute intermission. The performance will

be followed by a discussion with actors from the show.

Student audiences are often the most rewarding and demanding audiences that an acting ensemble can face. Since we

hope every show at TheatreWorks will be a positive experience for both audience and cast, we ask you to familiarize

your students with the theatre etiquette described on the following page.

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All the work that goes into a production would mean nothing if there wasn’t an audience for whom to perform. As the

audience, you are also a part of the production, helping the actors onstage tell the story.

When the performance is about to begin, the lights will dim. This is a signal for the actors and the audience to put aside

concerns and conversation and settle into the world of the play.

The performers expect the audience’s full attention and focus. Performance is a time to think inwardly, not a time

to share your thoughts aloud. Talking to neighbors (even in whispers) carries easily to others in the audience and to the

actors on stage. It is disruptive and distracting.

Food is not allowed in the theatre. Soda, candy, and other snacks are noisy and therefore distracting. Please keep

these items on the bus or throw them away before you enter the audience area. Backpacks are also not allowed in the

theatre.

Walking through the aisles during the performance is extremely disruptive. Actors occasionally use aisles and stairways

as exits and entrances. The actors will notice any movement in the performance space. Please use the restroom and

take care of all other concerns outside before the show.

Cell phones and other electronic devices must be turned off before the performance begins. Do not text during

the performance, as it is distracting to the audience members around you.

What to bring with you:

Introspection

Curiosity

Questions

Respect

An open mind

What to leave behind:

Judgments

Cell phones, etc.

Backpacks

Food

Attitude

The Role of the Audience

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Act 1, Scene 1

“You knew what a prime number was before you

could read.”

When the play opens, Catherine has just turned twenty-five.

It’s late at night, and we see her deep in conversation

with her father, Robert. Robert is a great mathematician

and a professor of math at the University of Chicago.

He urges her not to waste her incredible intelligence

and ability to do mathematics. She’s been sleeping late,

not eating well, wasting her days. They argue lovingly

about her laziness and about his crazy behavior. We

learn that Catherine has been taking care of her father.

He has brought her champagne to celebrate her birthday

and the two take sips from the bottle. Suddenly, Robert

vanishes, and we meet Hal, a twenty-eight year old

graduate student of math who knew and loved Catherine’s

father. He’s been going through the stacks of notebooks

Robert left behind in the house, looking for anything of

mathematical importance. We realize that Catherine has

been talking to a figment of her imagination or has

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Proof Plot Summary

been dreaming about her father, because Robert

passed away the week before and his funeral is the next

day. Hal asks Catherine to come to a bar where his band

is performing, but Catherine declines. She accuses Hal

of stealing notebooks and discovers that he has indeed

snuck a notebook out of the house. As Catherine calls

911, Hal desperately explains that he was planning to

wrap the notebook and give it to her as a present. He

found an entry about her and thought she would love

to have the notebook on her birthday. Hal leaves, and

Catherine hears the sound of police sirens.

Act 1, Scene 2

“Well he’s been coming here to look at dad’s

notebooks.”

The next day we meet Claire, Catherine’s twenty-nine

year old sister from New York. Claire has arrived to help

with the funeral and to check up on Catherine. She

gives her younger sister new shampoo, invites her to

Continues on the next page

Lance Gardner, Michelle Beck, & Ashley Bryant / Photo Kevin Berne

New York for her wedding in January, and asks Catherine

what she plans to do now that their father is dead.

Claire is worried about her sister. While Catherine was

in the shower, the police came by to check on the

house. Claire learns that her sister had called them the

night before to report a robbery. Apparently, Catherine

was “abusive” to the policemen when they responded

to her call. Delicately, Claire asks Catherine about this

incident, but Catherine dismisses her question, telling

her that she thought Hal was stealing their dad’s

notebooks and that the police were “assholes.” Claire

asks if Hal is Catherine’s boyfriend, which she ab-

solutely denies. Hal arrives to continue his work with the

notebooks, and Claire introduces herself to him. As soon

as he leaves the room, Claire urges Catherine to bring

him a bagel and to flirt with him, but Catherine brushes

her off.

Act 1, Scene 3

“I’d catch glimpses of you when you visited your dad’s

office at school. I wanted to talk to you but I thought,

No, you do not flirt with your doctoral adviser’s daughter.”

Later that night, we find Catherine on the porch of the

house. The reception following the funeral has turned

into a party of mathematics grad students and Claire’s

friends from high school. The grad students are jamming,

playing music in the living room—it is a lively party. Hal

brings Catherine a beer and apologizes for sneaking a

notebook out of the house. Catherine apologizes for

calling the police and tells him he can take as long as

he needs to go through the notebooks. She asks him if

he knows any female mathematicians, and Hal calls the

field a “young man’s game.” Catherine talks about a

famous French mathematician named Sophie Germain,

who had to publish her work under a man’s name in the

1700s. Hal realizes that Catherine knows a lot about

math and is perhaps hiding just how brilliant she is.

They kiss and admit that they have both liked each

other for a long, long time.

Act 1, Scene 4

“I didn’t find it. I wrote it.”

The next morning, Catherine sits on the porch alone.

Hal meets her there, and it is a little awkward because

they have spent the night together. We learn that Claire

is leaving today to return to New York. Hal tells Catherine

that he wants to spend as much time as possible with

her, and Catherine is happy. She gives him a key and

tells him to go unlock a drawer in her dad’s desk. Claire

arrives, hungover from the celebration the night before.

She asks Catherine to move with her to New York,

permanently. Catherine is confused at first, but then is

furious when she learns that Claire intends to sell the

house. The two argue bitterly, and Catherine realizes

that her sister has investigated mental hospitals and

doctors for her. We learn that while Claire was able to

finish college and have a life, Catherine was never able

to go to college because she had to care for their father.

Just as the argument peaks, a stunned Hal returns with

a notebook. In the desk drawer he has discovered a

notebook with a proof that would revolutionize the field

of mathematics and that would make Robert one of the

most famous mathematicians of all time. Catherine states

that she was the one who wrote the proof.

Act II, Scene 1

“I’m going to school.”

At the top of Act II, we flash back to September

four years earlier. Robert sits on the porch dozing, a

notebook nearby. Catherine tells him that she has

decided to go to Northwestern University to study

mathematics and that she is leaving at the end of the

month. Robert is stunned and doesn’t understand why

she didn’t discuss this decision with him. He teaches at

the University of Chicago and wants her to study there

with him, but Catherine tells him she wants to study in

a different math department. Northwestern has offered

her a full scholarship, and Claire is going to help support

her too. Robert is shocked and angry, and when Hal

arrives to discuss his thesis with Robert, he is caught in

the middle of the argument. At the end of the scene,

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Plot Summary, continued

Continues on the next page

Robert realizes that it is Catherine’s birthday and that

he had forgotten the date (something he never does).

Act II, Scene 2

“This is Dad’s handwriting.”

Now, we jump forward in time to the moment after

Catherine declares to Claire and Hal that she wrote the

proof. They do not believe her, and gently accuse her

of pretending her father’s work is her own. Catherine is

furious. Claire feels like the handwriting belongs to

Robert, and Hal (who has spent hours studying Robert’s

notebooks) also believes that the handwriting is

Robert’s. They suggest that Hal submit the proof to the

department for review, but Catherine refuses to let

them take the notebook from her. The encounter ends

bitterly as Catherine insults Hal and throws the notebook

on the ground.

Act II, Scene 3

“You trust me with this?”

The next day Hal returns to apologize and try to talk

to Catherine. Claire tells him to go away, because

Catherine has locked herself in her room and won’t talk

to anyone or eat anything. She gives Hal the notebook

and tells him to call her in New York when he’s discovered

what the proof means. Hal is surprised that Claire trusts

him so completely.

Act II, Scene 4

“The gaps might make it hard to follow. We can talk it

through.”

Three and a half years earlier. It’s winter, and Robert

wears a t-shirt as he sits on his porch, writing in his

notebook. Catherine arrives from Northwestern. She’s

been calling her dad repeatedly trying to get ahold of

him, but the phone just rings and rings. He tells her he’s

been working nonstop for the last week and that he

hasn’t felt so inspired and so energized in a long time.

Catherine reads through his notebook and realizes that

it’s full of gibberish. She convinces him to come inside

where it is warm.

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Plot Summary, continued

Act II, Scene 5

“Some nights I could connect three or four. Some

nights they’d be really far apart, I’d have no idea how

to get to the next one, if there was a next one.”

A week after Hal and Claire accuse Catherine of

pretending her father’s proof is her own, the sisters

prepare to leave the house for good and fly to New

York. Claire tries to get Catherine excited about a life in

New York, but Catherine is indifferent and quiet. It’s

clear that Claire is really worried about Catherine and

that Catherine hasn’t spoken to her in a week. They

argue, and Claire leaves, throwing Catherine’s plane

ticket on the table. Hal shows up looking worn out but

excited. He tells Catherine that the proof checks out—

it’s a huge deal. She’s still really mad at him for not

believing that she wrote the book, but the two gradually

reconcile. Hal suggests that she stay in Chicago and

work with him on the proof. The two sit on the porch,

and Catherine begins to explain the proof to him.

The end.

L. Peter Callender & Michelle Beck / Photo Kevin Berne

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Understanding Plot: Sequencing EventsThe timeline of Proof is not straight forward. We jump in and out of the past and present in order to catch glimpses of

what life was like with Robert. Read the plot summary and underline the 6 most important events in the story. Then

number them 1–6 and assign them to a box. Draw a small picture of the event in the box and write a brief description.

1

3

5

2

4

6

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Create a TimelineProof involves nine scenes that weave in and out of the present and the past. Using the space below, create a timeline

of these nine scenes. Put them in chronological order.

1. _______________________________________________

2. _______________________________________________

3. _______________________________________________

4. _______________________________________________

5. _______________________________________________

6. _______________________________________________

7. _______________________________________________

8. _______________________________________________

9. _______________________________________________

Act I, Scene 1: Catherine’s 25th birthday. Shecelebrates with Robert’s ghost, and calls thecops when she discovers Hal has taken one ofher father’s notebooks.

Act I, Scene 2: Claire arrives to help with funeralpreparations, and to check up on Catherine.Hal arrives, and Claire encourages Catherine toflirt with him.

Act I, Scene 3: The evening following Robert’s funeral, his students have gathered for a party in his honor. Catherine and Hal recall whenthey first met.

Act I, Scene 4: The morning after the funeral.Catherine directs Hal to a notebook in Robert’sdesk, containing an important proof. Catherinesays she wrote it.

Act II, Scene 1: Catherine breaks the news toRobert that she’ll be starting school at North-western. Hal arrives and Robert introduces himto Catherine as one of his students.

Act II, Scene 2: Claire and Hal question whetherCatherine really wrote the proof, and suggesthaving the math department study it. Catherineis insulted, and throws the notebook on the ground.

Act II, Scene 3: Hal comes to apologize toCatherine, but Claire says she’s refusing to seeanyone. Claire gives Hal the notebook so hecan examine the proof.

Act II, Scene 4: Catherine comes home fromNorthwestern to check on Robert. He says he’sbeen working again, but his notebook is full ofnonsense.

Act II, Scene 5: Claire and Catherine are scheduled to leave together for New York, butthey quarrel and Claire leaves alone. Hal arrivesand tells Catherine he believes she wrote theproof.

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Cause and Effect in Proof

Through Catherine’s conversations with Robert, Hal, and Claire, we begin to get a sense of why she has made the decisions she has made in her life (such as why she dropped out of college). Using the chart below, identify three to fourmajor events in Catherine’s life and how they have lead her to where she is by the end of the play.

CAUSE EFFECT

fl

fl

fl

fl

About the Play and Playwright

12

David Auburn was born on November 30, 1969 in Chicago,Illinois. His early childhood was spent in Ohio, then in1982 his family moved to Arkansas. His father was anacademic who held both teaching and administrativepositions at several universities.

After graduating high school, Auburn returned to thecity of his birth to study Political Science at the Universityof Chicago. He began writing for and performing withthe sketch comedy group Off-Off Campus, and immersedhimself in Chicago’s vibrant theatre scene, writing reviewsfor the campus newspaper. He switched his major toEnglish Literature, earing his bachelor’s degree in 1991.

Auburn then won a screenwriting fellowship, and spenta year in Hollywood working at Steven Spielberg’s production company Amblin Entertainment. He thenmoved to New York, where he committed himself to alife in theatre.

Auburn described those early years in New York: "Ifounded a theatre company with friends, and we put onshows in tiny theatres, and I worked at boring jobs. Itemped a lot." In addition to temping, Auburn was accepted into Julliard’s playwriting program.

It was at Juilliard that Auburn wrote his first full-lengthplay, Skyscraper, which was produced off-Broadway in1997. The reviews were mixed. The script was criticizedfor being too complex and the characters not fully developed—criticism that Auburn resolved to addressin his next play. Though the production wasn’t a greatsuccess, it did catch the attention of the ManhattanTheatre Club. He was asked to show them his next work.

When his fiancée’s PhD research required that shemove to London, Auburn quit his job and went with her.It was in London that he penned the first draft of Proof.

Aiming for a more character-driven play, Auburn startedout with two ideas—“One was to write about two sisterswho are quarreling over the legacy of something leftbehind by their father. The other was about someonewho knew that her parent had had problems of mentalillness.” He decided to use mathematics as the backdropfor the play, recognizing in the math world “a competitive,eccentric, passionate subculture that’s inherently dramatic.”

Though he himself was not a mathematician, Auburnhad learned in college that he “could teach [himself]enough about a strange subject in order to say some-thing about it—not necessarily as an expert, but to beable to participate in the conversation.” He attributesthis “intellectual swagger” to his time at University ofChicago, which also serves as the setting for the play.

The first draft came quickly, followed by a long periodof revisions. The Manhattan Theatre Club staged areading of the script in April 1999, and immediatelyscheduled Proof for their next mainstage season. In theyear between that first reading and the world premiere, Auburn took a job writing scripts for televisiondocumentaries, got married, and wrote another play.He also won a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship anda Helen Merrill Playwriting Award.

Proof had its world premiere off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club in May 2000, starring Mary-Louise Parker as Catherine. The production was a greatsuccess, and moved to Broadway that autumn. In 2001,Proof won the Drama Desk Award for Best New Play, theLucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, the New YorkDrama Critic’s Circle Best Play award, the Pulitzer Prizefor Drama, and the Tony Award for Best Play.

Continues on the next page

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About the Play and Playwright, continued

Proof enjoyed a three-year Broadway run, as well as a national tour. It became an instant hit in regionaltheatres—by 2002 it was the most-produced play in theUnited States. TheatreWorks was among the scores ofcompanies mounting the play in the years following itsBroadway triumph—our first staging of Proof was in2003.

After Proof, Auburn served as script consultant on thelate Jonathan Larson’s tick, tick…BOOM!, which openedoff-Broadway in 2001 and had a national tour in 2003.The Journals of Mihail Sebastian, Auburn’s one-manshow about a Romanian novelist, debuted in 2004.

In the following years, Auburn authored a number ofscreenplays, including the 2005 film adaptation of Proof

starring Gwyneth Paltrow, the 2006 romantic drama TheLake House with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves, andthe 2007 drama The Girl in the Park, which he also di-rected. When asked about his turn to screenwriting,Auburn said “I like working in as many modes as I can. Ienjoy the variety. But I want the theatre to be the mainplace I belong. That’s where I get the most pleasure.”

He did eventually turn his attention back to the theatre.In 2012 Auburn’s The Columnist opened on Broadway—a new play about influential Vietnam-era journalistJoseph Alsop. Lost Lake, Auburn’s two-character playabout a pair of strangers thrown together in a dilapi-dated vacation home, was staged off-Broadway in 2014.Both were produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club.

David Auburn at University of Chicago

Proof of What Happens When You Just Let GoBy David Auburn, Los Angeles Times, June 4, 2002

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Part of writing a play is letting it go. It's both exhilaratingand a bit frightening when you turn your script over tothe director and actors who will try to make it live. It's arisk—you hope you'll get lucky. With Proof, I did. Butwhen I let this play go I had no idea how far it would travel.

The play has been done in London, Tokyo, Manila,Stockholm, Tel Aviv, and many other cities; the defini-tive New York production, directed by Daniel Sullivan,opens in Beverly Hills this week at the Wilshire Theatre.

Proof started with two ideas. One was about a pair ofsisters: What if, after their father's death, they discoveredsomething valuable left behind in his papers?

The other, more of a visual image than anything else,was about a young woman: I saw her sitting up alone,late at night, worried she might inherit her father's mentalillness. While trying to see if these ideas fit together, Ihappened to be reading A Mathematician's Apology,the memoir by the great Cambridge mathematician G.H.Hardy. It's probably the most famous attempt to explainthe pleasures of doing math to a non-mathematical audience. One passage particularly startled me.

"In a good proof," Hardy wrote, "there is a very highdegree of unexpectedness, combined with inevitabilityand economy. The argument takes so odd and surprisinga form; the weapons used seem so childishly simplewhen compared with the far-reaching consequences;but there is no escape from the conclusions."

That sounded like a definition of a good play, too. Mathwas alien territory to me—I had barely made it throughfreshman calculus in college—but I decided to set mystory in Hardy's world. A mathematical proof becamethe "thing" the sisters find; my protagonist, Catherine,became convinced that she may have inherited her father's talent—he was a legendary mathematician—aswell as his illness. With these elements in place, andfeeling inspired by the meetings with the mathematiciansI'd begun to have, I was able to finish a draft of the playquickly, in about six months.

My first play, Skyscraper, had been commercially produced off-Broadway in 1997. Its run was short, butlong enough for the literary staff at Manhattan TheaterClub to catch a performance. They had invited me tosubmit my next play—a good break for me, since MTCis the best venue for new work in the city. I sent Proofto them. A few weeks later, it had a star, Mary-LouiseParker, a director, Daniel Sullivan, and an opening datefor what I assumed would be a six-week run.

Proof has now been running for two years. In that time,I've often been surprised at the responses it has generated.At a New York University conference on the play, apanel of women mathematicians used it to discussquestions of sexism and bias in their profession. After a performance on Broadway I got a note from an audience member backstage: "My daughter is just likeCatherine," it said. "I can't communicate with her. Canyou help me?"

In Chicago, a woman confronted me after a book signing.She told me her father had been a mathematician who'dlost his mind and she'd spent her whole life caring forhim. "This is the story of my life," she said. "How didyou know?"

The answer, of course, is that I didn't, any more than Iintended the play to speak directly to the concerns offemale academics, or could tell a stranger how to breakthrough to his daughter. When you let a play go, youalso take the risk that it will take on associations forpeople that you didn't intend and can't account for.

That risk is the prerogative of art, however, and of the theater in particular. The theater affects us more directly, and unpredictably, than any of the other arts,because the actors are right there in front of us, creatingsomething new every night. Something, as Hardy mightput it, "Unexpected and inevitable." Which makes it allworth the risk.

A mathematical proof is an argument that convincesother people that something is true. It requires a seriesof steps using statements, theorems, logic, and axioms,and no steps can be left out. A mathematician’s goal isto better understand the rules and systems of numbers,geometry, and algebra and come up with new ways ofapproaching these rules and systems. As mathemati-cians study rules they come up with conjectures—ideasthat are believed to be true but have not been proven.

What’s in a Proof?

• Statements: Sentences that are either true or false (but not both)

• Logic: Mathematical operations that combine or alter statements using building blocks like “and,” “or,” “not,” and “if…then”

• Theorems: Mathematical statements that have been proven to be true

• Axioms: Statements that are known to be true and that do not need to be proved

What Is a Proof?

15

In 1859, German mathematician Bernhard Riemann published a deep mathematical conjecture that mathematicians have been try-ing to prove ever since.

“The Riemann hypothesis asserts that all interesting solutions of the equation �ζ(s)= 0 lie on a certain vertical straight line” –Clay Mathematics Institute

A proof of the Riemann Hypothesis would radically change the math world because itwould prove the above statement is true, notjust a conjecture.

Although we never find out what proofCatherine solves, some have suggested it maybe Riemann’s Hypothesis.

Why do you think Robert is so hesitant to let Catherine go to Northwestern?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Are Hal’s motives pure? Does he simply want to make sure that Robert’s discoveries are recorded by the math

community, or does he want to steal a proof and claim it as his own?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Is Catherine sick? Do you think she is really the author of the proof? Why or why not?

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Does Claire really care about Catherine, or is she more interested in selling the house and freeing herself of obligation?

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What is the relationship between genius and insanity in this story?

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We’ve talked a little bit about what a proof is in mathematical terms. Think about what else the word proof can mean in

the world of this play. Are certain characters looking for proof or to prove themselves? If so, what are they looking for

and why are they looking for it?

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____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What do you think Catherine decides to do with her life? Do you think she remains in Chicago with Hal? Do you think

she moves to New York? Why or why not?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What role do the flashbacks play in this story? Do they reveal more about Catherine or about Robert? Are the flashbacks

from Catherine’s perspective?

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____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Why do you think David Auburn ended the play in the way that he does? How did this ending make you feel?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Questions to Chew On

16

Sophie GermainCatherine talks about Marie-Sophie Germain, a famousFrench mathematician and one of the first women toever affect the world of mathematics, who became a pioneer of “elastic theory.”

Marie-Sophie was born April 1, 1776 in Paris, France.Because aristocratic women were not allowed to seek areal education, Sophie learned all she could learn fromthe books in her father’s study. But it wasn’t easy. Preferring her to marry and conduct herself in a more“ladylike” way, Marie-Sophie’s parents tried everythingto keep her from studying. They took the candles fromher room and left her fire unlit at night, so that shewould be cold and unable to see. She persevered bysmuggling candles and quilts, secretly working late intothe night.

Marie-Sophie first encountered math when she was 13years old. The French Revolution (also known as TheTerror) was raging in the streets of Paris, and Sophiespent all of her time indoors. Her parents eventually relented and allowed her to pursue her mathematicalstudies independently. When she was 18, the ÉcolePolytechnique, a cutting-edge scientific university,opened in Paris. Women were unable to attend the university, but Marie-Sophie could request lecture notesto supplement her independent study. She then beganto take classes under a former student’s name, M. Antoine-August LeBlanc. Her work was so extraordinarythat her professor, Joseph-Louis Lagrange, summoned“LeBlanc” to his office, and Marie-Sophie’s true identitywas revealed. Lagrange became her mentor.

Marie-Sophie Germain died in June of 1831 after a battle with breast cancer. The German mathematicianand her collaborator, Carl Friedrich Gauss, convincedthe University of Göttingen to award her an honorarydegree, but she passed away before she could receive it.

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“She was trapped in her house. The French Revolution was going on, The Terror. She hadto stay inside for safety, and she passed thetime reading in her father’s study. The Greeks…Later she tried to get a real education but theschools didn’t allow women. So she wrote letters. She wrote to Gauss. She used a man’sname. Uh, “Antoine-August Le Blanc.” Shesent him some proofs involving a certain kindof prime number, important work. He was delighted to correspond with such a brilliantyoung man.”

–Catherine, speaking of Sophie Germain, in Proof

Women in Math: Fast Facts• Today women make up nearly half of all undergraduate math majors, and only slightly less than half of math Master’s students.

• In 1966, only 6% of all mathematics doctorates were awarded to women. By 2006, the percentage had increased to 33%.

• Women are more likely to use their math major in the fields of education or healthcare than to pursue a career either in STEM fields or in academia with their mathematics degree.

• Only 19% of mathematics positions in academia are held by women.

• Starting in elementary school and throughout high school, boys score higher on standardized tests in mathematics than girls do. The reasons for this difference are hotly contested among researchers.

• One of the most often-cited reasons for the difference in testing scores is “stereotype threat,” or the tacit effect of the stereotype that “boys are better than girls at math” on girls taking math tests, leading them to doubt themselves or to perform worse than they potentially could.

• Stereotype threat is a self-confirming belief that one may be evaluated based on a negative stereotype. Because of stereotype threat, students who are reminded of negative stereotypes about their race or gender before taking a testperform worse on those tests, especially if the negative stereotype is one that makes them feel academically inferior.The anxiety of confirming a negative stereotype seems to be the driving force behind stereotype threat. That anxietycauses testers to perform worse than they would have otherwise. Stereotype threat is a reminder of how social forcescan influence test scores, including intelligence scores.

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Mental IllnessWe are never told what form of mental illness Robertsuffers from, but many of his symptoms suggest he may suffer from schizophrenia. Schizophrenia tends todevelop in the late teens and can involve hallucinations,disordered thinking, and a withdrawal from society.People with schizophrenia often are able to makebizarre and surprising connections between ideas, andthey are often afflicted with paranoia.

• Mental illnesses are medical conditions that affect a person’s thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others, and daily functioning. People with mental illnesses often have difficulty coping with the everyday demands of life.

• Examples of mental illnesses are: major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and borderline personality disorder (among many others).

• Mental illnesses can affect people of any age, race, religion, or income. Many people diagnosed with a serious mental illness can experience relief from their symptoms by actively participating in an individual treatment plan.

• In addition to medication, treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), interpersonal therapy, peer support groups and other community services can also assist with recovery.

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Some people believe that creative genius andmental illness are connected. Below are just afew famous mathematicians, artists, musicians,and writers who may have suffered from various forms of mental illness.

John Nash who features in the film A BeautifulMind, was a brilliant mathematician and contributed significantly to game theory. Healso struggled with paranoid schizophrenia.

Vincent Van Gogh was one of the world’sgreatest painters and is famous for cutting offhis own ear, drinking turpentine, and other oddbehaviors leading up to his death by suicide.

Ludwig van Beethoven, the famous composer,had an abusive childhood and slowly went deafin his adult life. His letters to family membersindicate a struggle with depression.

Edgar Allan Poe, the famous author, was an alcoholic who was haunted by thoughts of suicide. Modern scholars believe he may havebeen bipolar.

Ernest Hemingway, who won the PulitzerPrize for literature in 1952 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954, struggled with a drinkingproblem and suicidal depression.

A Conversation with the Directors

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Why is Proof relevant to today’s Silicon Valley audience?

Director Leslie Martinson: There’s this phrase that describes the academic fields of science: “the STEMfields.” It stands for science, technology, engineering,and mathematics. The phrase that I’m fond of is STEAM—for the power created when “Art” is added.We explore the way those other fields work through the arts. This play is about a young woman who is underestimated by everyone except her father, and now her father is not around. She knows what sheknows, including her own worth, and that’s still notenough. At some point you do need validation and support from the people around you. I think the notionof being under too much pressure is rampant in SiliconValley.

Assistant Director Jeffrey Lo: I think this is also a playthat explores the difficulties of being a woman in amale-dominated field.

Martinson: I know what you mean, but I guess I havetrouble calling it a “male-dominated field.” The field,mathematics, and the ideas have no gender. I rememberin my high school calculus class being told by myteacher that I had “the highest grade of the girls.” This is math! Your grade is your grade! That teacher believed that he was telling me I did as well as could be expected, given that I was a girl. In Catherine’s case,she just gets ignored. The cultural bias, both about hergender, and about her schooling, is such that she simplygets neglected and ignored.

This production of Proof features a cast of AfricanAmerican actors. How did that come about?

Martinson: Well, part of our mission here at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley is to create theatre thatlooks like the Bay Area. In any case, in casting, the firstperson to come to mind to play Robert was L. PeterCallender, with whom I had worked on our productionof Radio Golf. He’s a tremendous actor with just theright combination of genius and madness. L. Peter is anAfrican American actor, so we cast an African Americanfamily around him, which fits well with the Chicago settingof the play, and adds some layers to our production.We’re already watching Catherine face the challenges

of a young, American woman working in mathematics.As a young, black, American woman, there’s anotherset of cultural norms and expectations to negotiate herway through as well. It also suggests a back-story aboutwhy Hal, the doctoral student, has such strong loyalty tohis mentor, Robert. While the University of Chicago hasa long history of admission and recognition of African-American scholars, we can still imagine that a youngman of color might find only a few role models in hisdepartment.

Why should young people see this play?

Lo: The play is very accessible to people of all ages. At different points in your life, the relationships between the characters in this play will mean somethingcompletely different to you. There’s a really compellinglook at the relationship between two sisters. In addition,there is a romantic relationship that I find really funny, afather-daughter relationship, as well as a mentor-pupilrelationship. I think it explores a lot of relationships thatyounger folks will connect with, but also feel as thoughthey’re getting a peek into another world that they’renot a part of.

Martinson: Everyone should come see this play because it’s brilliant. There are three characters in their twenties and it’s unusual to have a play with threestrong characters in their twenties. Catherine, Hal, andClaire know who they are, they know what they’redoing, and it’s still tricky! They still run into trouble. Ithink that young audience members will relate to this. It is funny, illuminating, and brilliant at the same time, so come!

Hyde Park, ChicagoProof is set in the Hyde Park neighborhood on theSouth Side of Chicago. This historic and beautiful neighborhood enjoys a lakefront location and is hometo the University of Chicago (where the characterRobert teaches), Washington Park, and PresidentObama’s family residence. The neighborhood began inthe 1850s and was originally a suburb of Chicago.

In 1893 the Hyde Park area hosted the World’sColumbian Exposition, a giant world fair that put thecity of Chicago on the map as a center of innovationand design. The first ferris wheel was introduced at thisparticular world fair. During the 1940s and 1950s, HydePark was a major musical hub, a jazz center.

According to the 2010 census, Hyde Park’s residentsare 47% Caucasian, 31% African American, 12% Asian,and 6% Hispanic.

University of Chicago: Fast Facts

• The University of Chicago was founded in 1890 by John D. Rockefeller

• In 2015, it was ranked #9 in the US News & World Report: Best Global Universities

• The University of Chicago has produced 89 Nobel Laureates

• On December 2, 1942, the first manmade nuclear chain reaction occurred at the Universityof Chicago

• The campus is composed of 217 acres and wasdesignated a botanic garden in 1997.

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Dear DiaryEach of the four characters in Proof have very unique perspectives and very different relationships to our protagonist,

Catherine. Choose one character to explore and write a one to two page diary entry from his/her perspective. Be sure

to note when exactly your character is writing this entry. What has just happened? What does this character know?

What does this character not yet know? What does this character dream about? What is this character most afraid of?

Missing Scene ImprovisationThere are chunks of time missing from Proof that we hear about but never get to see. Working in groups of 3 or 4,choose a “missing” scene from the play and spend 15 minutes improvising what that scene would be like.

Next, take the improvisation work you and your group have done and put it on paper. Write the scene down. Designateone person in your group as the director, one person as the designer, and two people as the actors. Make the scenehappen.

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Set model by Scenic Designer Annie Smart

Quiz1. The play opens on a day that is important to Catherine. Why is it important?

2. What does Robert give to Catherine?

3. What is Robert’s advice for Catherine?

4. How old was Robert when he got sick?

5. Of what did Robert die?

6. What has Hal been doing in Catherine’s house?

7. Where does Hal invite Catherine?

8. How does Hal feel about Catherine’s father?

9. What does Catherine accuse Hal of doing?

10. How does Catherine describe her father during his insanity?

11. What was Hal going to do with the notebook that Catherine finds in his coat?

12. What does Claire invite Catherine to do in January?

13. How would you describe Robert’s funeral?

14. What famous French mathematician does Catherine tell Hal about?

15. What does Claire want to do with her father’s house?

16. When Catherine gives Hal a key to her father’s desk, what does he find?

17. In Catherine’s flashback, what does Robert say he enjoys at this time of the year?

18. At the end of her argument with Hal and Claire, what does Catherine try to do with the notebook?

19. In her flashback, what does Catherine read in Robert’s notebook when she visits him that winter?

20. How does Catherine feel about her potential life in New York?

21. What does Claire believe Catherine can’t do?

22. What does Catherine say writing the proof was like?

23. Why does Hal believe that Catherine wrote the proof?

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Student Matinees/STUDENT Feedback

Name____________________________________Grade_____________School_________________________________________

Performance Tasks based on CA State theatre arts standards

Select and complete one of the following activities:

1. Rewrite the ending of the play. How would you like to see it end? Why?

2. Pick a moment in the play that affected you. Describe the stage elements that created that moment for you

(the script, acting, lighting, music, costumes, set design, sound design and/or direction).

3. Write a review of the play or an actor.

4. Describe something you would change in the production. Describe what benefit that change would create in

the production and why.

5. Identify and describe how this production might affect the values and behavior of the audience members who

have seen it.

6. Write about any careers you learned about in attending this production (example: stage hands, set designers,

actors, etc.).

Assessment Survey

No Maybe Yes Really Yes

I learned a lot from this experience 1 2 3 4

I would like to do this sort of project again 1 2 3 4

I will remember what I learned 1 2 3 4

STUDENT evaluation (cont)

Finish the following statements:

The most important thing I learned from this play was:

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Besides getting out of school, the best thing about attending this student matinee is:____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Learning through the theatre is different from my regular class because:

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If I could change something about attending a student matinee, I would:

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I'm going to use what I learned, saw, or experienced by:

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Student Matinee/TEACHER Evaluation

Name_____________________________________________________________________School___________________________

Please rate your Student Matinee experience below:

Strongly Disagree Disagree Agree Strongly Agree

Planning

I received sufficient and timely information 1 2 3 4

from TheatreWorks before the matinee

TheatreWorks maintained communication with 1 2 3 4

me and/or involved administrators at my school

It was clear to me that the production and study 1 2 3 4

guide incorporated curriculum standards

Strongly Disagree Disagree Agree Strongly Agree

Matinee Workshops

Supported other curriculum areas/subjects 1 2 3 4

Targeted students' educational needs 1 2 3 4

Provided a grade-appropriate experience 1 2 3 4

Engaged students' interest and attention 1 2 3 4

I would like to learn how to lead more of these 1 2 3 4

kinds of activities on my own in the classroom

Strongly Disagree Disagree Agree Strongly Agree

Post-Matinee

Students were engaged in this experience 1 2 3 4

The experience was valuable to my students' 1 2 3 4

education

The "Performance Tasks" were useful in helping 1 2 3 4

my students understand their experience

I would be interested in bringing more drama 1 2 3 4

related activities into my classroom

TEACHER Evaluation (cont)

For your classrooms please list the strengths of watching a student matinee.

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In terms of your teaching, did this particular Student Matinee give you any arts integration ideas foryour curriculum?_________________________________________________________________________________________

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We are very interested in your feedback. What worked for you about this experience? _________________________________________________________________________________________

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What did not work for you?_________________________________________________________________________________________

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Additional Comments:

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TheatreWorks student matinees tend to fill up quickly. Tickets for the 2015/16 season are available now—please visit theatreworks.org for the most up-to-date information. Please keep us updated with your current contact information to receive show announcements and booking information. Also, let us know if you havefriends who would like to be added to our mailing lists!