PROOF Comes To Open Fist, Previews 2/14

The Open Fist Theatre Company and The Aquila Morong Studio are thrilled to announce their co-production, PROOF, written by David Auburn and directed by John Hindman. PROOF will preview on Monday, February 14 at 8pm; and will open on Tuesday, February 15 at 8pm and run Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, March 10 at the Open Fist Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd. in Hollywood.

On the eve of her twenty-fifth birthday, Catherine, a troubled young woman, has spent years caring for her brilliant but unstable father, a famous mathematician. Now, following his death, she must deal with her own volatile emotions; the arrival of her estranged sister, Claire; and the attentions of Hal, a former student of her father's who hopes to find valuable work in the 103 notebooks that her father left behind. Over the long weekend that follows, a burgeoning romance and the discovery of a mysterious notebook draw Catherine into the most difficult problem of all: How much of her father's madness - or genius - will she inherit?

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM AND CAST

David Auburn (Playwright. B. 1970 - ) is an American playwright. He was raised in Ohio and Arkansas. He attended the University of Chicago, where he was a member of Off-Off Campus, and received a degree in English literature. Following a fellowship with Amblin Entertainment, he moved to New York City and spent two years in The Juilliard School's playwriting program, studying under[citation needed] the noted dramatists Marsha Norman and Christopher Durang. His first full-length play, Skyscraper, ran off-Broadway in 1997. His short play, What Do You Believe About The Future? appeared in Harper's Magazine and has since been adapted for the screen. He is best known for his 2000 play Proof, which won the 2001 Tony Award for Best Play, as well as the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. He has adapted it into a film, which was released in 2005. He has also been awarded the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Following Proof, he wrote the screenplay for the movie The Lake House, released by Warner Bros. in 2006. In 2007, he made his directorial debut with The Girl in the Park, for which he also wrote the screenplay.

JOHN HINDMAN (Director) is the writer/director of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize Nominee The Answer Man starring Jeff Daniels and Lauren Graham. The film was distributed by Magnolia Pictures. He has also written Christmas in New York for producer Kevin Messick as well as Familymoon for Walden Media. John has recently completed his latest screenplays, a romantic teen comedy and the crime thriller Lawrence. Next he will direct Having It All written by his wife, Vanessa Poe Hindman. John currently teaches Master Scene Study with teacher and casting director Deborah Aquila C.S.A. at the Aquila Morong Studio for Actors.

Deborah Aquila (Producer) After graduating from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, and the Stella Adler Conservatory, Deborah Aquila began her casting career in New York with Steven Soderbergh's sex, lies and videotape and Uli Edel's The Last Exit to Brooklyn. Before moving to Los Angeles to cast Frank Darabont's The Shawshank Redemption, Deborah had completed more than 40 independent films. In 1993, she was named the Senior Vice-President of Features Casting for Paramount Pictures. During her tenure with the studio, Deborah cast such notable films as Primal Fear, Mission Impossible and Kiss the Girls before returning to the independent casting world. On the TV side, she cast Dexter, The Shield and The Chicago Code. Deborah has been recognized 13 times by the Casting Society of America and in 2003, she was recognized by the Hollywood community with the HOLLYWOOD FILM FESTIVAL CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD. Deborah continues to cast independent and studio films as well as television, and is thrilled to return to her love of teaching, co-founding the Aqulia Morong Studio for Actors where she teaches Script Analysis and Master Scene Study.

DONNA MORONG (Producer) Donna began her career in casting in New York City working on some of the most prestigious, original Broadway productions including Hurly Burly, Biloxi Blues and Brighton Beach Memoirs. She cast for Yale Repertory while concurrently running a successful studio for young actors on Theatre Row. Many of her students went on to careers on stage, including Tony Award Winner, Kerry Butler. Prior to casting, Donna trained with William Esper in the Meisner Technique and taught acting at Rutgers University. After a 15 -year career as a top casting executive at the Walt Disney Company film division, and garnering an Artios Award for casting Ben Affleck's Gone Baby Gone for Miramax which garnered an Academy Award Nomination for Amy Ryan, Donna decided to launch her own casting company where she has been working on independent and studio films in Europe and the U.S. More importantly, she has returned to her first love: teaching, and has co-founded the Aquila Morong Studio for Actors. She is passionate about nurturing actors' talent and uses her years as a casting director, as well as her training, to aid the actor in realizing their potential.

MARTHA DEMSON (Producer) is the current Artistic Director of the Open Fist Theatre Company, and received her principal theatrical education from Yale University and Sanford Meisner. During her tenure, Ms. Demson has directed and/or produced many award-winning productions for the Fist, including Papa (deGroot), Abingdon Square (Fornes), Casanova (Congden), Escape from Happiness (Walker), Vieux Carre (Williams), Flight of the Earls (Humble), Travesties and Rock 'n' Roll (Stoppard), The Devil with Boobs (Fo), The Threepenny Opera (Brecht/Weill), How to Explain the History of Communism to Mental Patients (Visniec).

THRILL RIDE PRODUCTIONS (Producer) Since the turn of the new century, NANCY BABKA, has been aligned with an unbroken, ever-growing sequence of some of the most innovative, highly-touted projects up and down Hollywood's Theatre Row -- productions that have been garnering awards and inclusion on various "Best Of" lists for over a decade and counting! These include stints with acclaimed directors such as Robert B. Weide, Jon Lawrence Rivera, Deborah LaVine, Bjørn Johnson, John Ireland, Jr.; and fellow Mid-Westerner Mark Ruffalo, when the film star "returned home" to his roots in live theater to direct the world premiere stage play Margaret at the Hudson Backstage. Nancy also has an indie film to her credit. Available on DVD, Art of Revenge stars Stephan Jenkins of the popular rock band Third Eye Blind. It is the debut feature film to come out of Nancy's company, Thrill Ride Productions.

CAITLIN RENÉE CAMPBELL (Producer) Producing at OFTC, Blue Night in the Heart of the West, The Summer Shakespeare Festival, World Premiere of Frank Zappa's Joe's Garage (Marketing Producer), Light Up the Sky, Neil LaBute's The New Testament and Helter Skelter, Stage Door, and Sorority Queen in a Mobile Home. As a 1st AD in FILM: Scream at the Sound of the Beep, "gAg;" Kemo Sabe (AFI-DWW Project), Piranhas, CAPTAIN, Fully Loaded, The Last Gamble and Retreat. Independently, she has produced Arthur Miller's After the Fall, and the short film CAPTAIN. Currently she is in preproduction for a June 2011 shoot of The Road Not Taken.

The cast of PROOF features: Nicole Stuart, Tessa Ferrer, Matt Marquez and features, Carmen Argenziano.

PROOF features an award-winning design team. The Scenic Consultant is by James Spencer (Getting Frankie Married . . . and Afterwards). The Lighting Design is by [ Jason Mullen (Stage Door, Rock 'n' Roll) . The Sound Design is by Peter Carlstedt (Light Up the Sky).

PROOF production team: THRILLRIDE PRODUCTIONS; CAITLIN RENÉE CAMPBELL, Producer; TOMMY BURRUS, Technical Supervisor; ALVIN CEBALLOS, Production Coordinator; ALYSSA ESCALANTE Stage Manager.

SCHEDULE AND PRICING

PROOF will preview on Monday, February 14 at 8pm; and will open on Tuesday, February 15 at 8pm and run through Thursday, March 10 at The NEW Open Fist Theatre, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd. former home of The Actor's Gang in Hollywood.

Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 8pm. Ticket prices are $20; tickets for the opening night gala are $25. Special group rates available for parties of 10 or more. For tickets, please call (323) 882-6912 for details or visit www.openfist.org to purchase tickets online or to view complete schedule.

 

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