Proof -- by David Auburn (2001)
Description Playbill.com succinctly summarizes the play by saying this: " The daughter of a recently deceased mathematician must fight to prove the authorship of a landmark proof that is discovered among her father's papers, while also dealing with her father's legacy of genius and mental illness." The play has only four characters. The protagonist is Catherine. Catherine's sister, Claire, pushes her to leave their childhood home after their father, Robert, dies. Catherine's emotional attachment to the house conflicts this suggestion. She had taken care of her mathematical-genius father in his difficult final four years of life. While she was taking care of him, she was privately working on a mathematical proof her father had encouraged her to start. She finished it without his awareness. Eventually, one of Robert's previous students, Hal, befriends Catherine. Their friendship accelerates after Robert's funeral. Catherine entrusts Hal with a key to a...