First straight drama produced by local theater company
Published in the September 17-30, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Photo by Marty Cheek
Doug Doughty as Robert and Angie Higgins as Catherine in the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “Proof,” now playing at the Community Playhouse.
After the death of her father, a brilliant mathematician, a young woman named Catherine must deal with mental and family issues as she discovers what direction she wants to go in her life. That’s the premise of “Proof,” the latest drama performed by the South Valley Civic Theatre which opened its new season Sept. 12.
“Catherine” is played by Angie Higgins, a San Jose resident who fell in love with the play when she first saw it. When a friend passed on the audition information to her for the show, she couldn’t make the date but wrote the director Cindy Powell and asked for another day to audition. Her passion for the part got her the role in the four-character play written by David Auburn.
“When I first saw this show years ago, I really connected to it because I also lost my father,” Higgins said. “He was a teacher, so there’s a lot similarities with the story. Mind you, we weren’t math geniuses coming up with this monumental proof, but I definitely have connections to the relationships in my own life.”
The play contains heavy emotions that made the cast members cry during their first read-through. However, Auburn wrote in humorous touches to help cut the tension, Higgins said.
“I feel like everyone can connect to her in some way — feeling that hole left in your heart when they’re gone, wanting to imagine them there when they’re not — and also feeling being at sea with your life, not knowing in what direction to go in,” she said.
This is Higgins’s first show with SVCT. She has performed in other shows in Silicon Valley and is also the artistic director with the Shady Shakespeare Company based in Saratoga.
Joy Reynolds and Tracy van Gundy served as co-producers.
“It’s definitely a step away for South Valley Civic Theatre,” van Gundy said. “It’s our first straight drama that we’ve ever done.”
Besides Higgins, the other members of the cast include Doug Doughty who plays “Robert” (Catherine’s father), Andrew Cummings who plays “Hal” (a math protege of Robert), and Denee Lewis Bohnsack playing “Claire” (Catherine’s sister). Adrianne Wilkinson is an understudy and will play Claire during one of the final performances.
