DIRECTOR’S NOTE:
by Margaret Olsgard
It has been my privilege to work with an exceptionally dedicated and gifted cast,
and to be supported by a fine assemblage of creative, hard-working and supportive
crew. The casts understanding of their characters and sense of responsibility to
the script and to one another were a director’s delight! Thanks to all who made
this show possible.
Like Proof’s young leading character Catherine, both I and my husband Bob grew up
caring for our mentally ill fathers. The effort and disappointment and frustration
and self-doubt involved in such a childhood are familiar to all who love and care
for family members with mental illness. David Auburn’s play insightfully examines
this experience with candor and humor and hope. The popularity of Proof is a tribute
not only to playwright’s obvious talent, but to the need that people have to make
sense of the mysterious effects that mental illnesses have on people whom they know
and love. It is my hope that this production addresses that need, in some measure,
for our Theatre in the Woods audience.
This production is dedicated to my father Dee David Smith and to my father-in-law
Clarence Olsgard whose struggles with mental illness taught us the fundamental need
to respect and maintain personal authority under the most difficult of circumstances.
