14
FRIDAY
Pity the well-adjusted mathematician. According to the standards of popular culture, a math genius is only doing quality work if he or she (let’s be real—he) consumes nothing but Funyuns and spends a lot of time in attics. And the really brilliant ones have to be John Forbes Nash–insane. The Heritage Theatre Company’s production of David Auburn’s Tony- and Pulitzer Prize–winning Proof dutifully sets up all the usual eccentric-mathematician tropes, executing them with mixed results. The crux of the play is the relationship between Robert, a legendary University of Chicago prof with a debilitating mental illness, and his depressed but secretly brilliant college-age daughter, Catherine. As Robert, Tom Neubauer does the kook-savant bit well, but Megan Townsend’s strong-willed Catherine is a little harder to figure out. Fragility would add up better for Townsend, but then, the world’s got enough fragile mathematicians. Get Proof at 8 p.m. (see City List for other dates) at North Chevy Chase Church’s Harlow Hall, 8814 Kensington Parkway, Chevy Chase. $25. (301) 770-9080. (Mike DeBonis)