“Proof,” a story that uses a mathematical impetus for a young woman seeking solutions, opens Friday at Thunder River Theatre in Carbondale for a three-weekend run.

“Like all young people, she has to fight her way through fears and doubts in order to claim herself and her place in the world,” Sue Lavin, this show’s director, said in the news release.

The protagonist Catherine grapples with living up to her father’s greatness without being consumed by his same mental instability. 

---

---

“Catherine confronts the fierce obstacles of familial madness, a bossy sister, a questionable suitor and prejudice,” Lavin said in the release. 

Written in 2000 by David Auburn, the play has earned multiple accolades including a Tony Award and a Pulitzer for best play. 

---

---

Local actors Emily Henley, Alison Fifield and Jeff Carlson join front range actor John Hauser — returning to the TRTC stage for a second time — to bring this much-lauded play to life, according to the release. 

“This play requires a cast which can bring to life its humor, love, fear and wonder,” Lavin said in the release. “Our cast of four explore the characters with hope and longing, and they make the words sparkle.”

The play opens on the morning of Catherine’s (played by Henley) 25th birthday. After years of caring for her father, Robert (played by Carlson), who struggles with mental health, she must process his death and the obstacles after. 

She is left to deal with an estranged but bossy sister Claire (played by Fifield) along with advances from one of her father’s previous students Hal (played by Hauser), who hopes to find valuable work in the 103 notebooks that Robert left behind, according to the release.

That doesn’t include the biggest problem Catherine must solve. How much of her father’s mind will she inherit?

Proof opens Friday for a three-weekend run at TRTC, 67 Promenade, in Carbondale. Tickets are $35 and on sale through thunderrivertheatre.com or by calling 970-963-8200. Pay-what-you-can options are available.