The Island Packet, Friday, April 18, 2003, by Louise Causey-Lewis

'Proof' draws parallels between life, math

"Proof," the award winning play by David Auburn, is in the middle of a 15-show run by the South Carolina Repertory Company. The play opened on Broadway in the fall of 2000 and won both the 2001 Tony Award and a Pulitzer Prize.

Pat and Hank Haskell gave a wonderful gift to the area when they founded the company. Not only have they contributed diverse, eclectic and timely dramatic offerings, but they also have brought in professional direction and top quality actors for these plays.

Renowned director Tom Evans has returned to oversee his ninth show for the company. The four-member cast includes two familiar faces and two new ones.

Rebecca Robinson, a resident of Austin, Texas, plays the role of Catherine, her fourth role with the company. Island resident John David Rose plays the part of her father, Robert. Blake White makes his first appearance in the role of Hal, as does Jessica Hedrick as Claire.

The setting is the porch and yard of a dilapidated old house near the University of Chicago. The opening scene is a conversation between Robert, a famous mathematician and university professor who made unique contributions to modern math, and his younger daughter Catherine.

Catherine has devoted years of her life to caring for her father, who gradually slipped into dementia. She has inherited much of her father's genius, but it appears that she also may have inherited his propensity for mental illness as the conversation takes place on the day of his funeral.

Hal, Robert's former student, is digging through a mountain of notebooks that Robert kept during his last years. Most of them are rambling gibberish, written when he was mad, but Hal is hoping to discover some lucid moments and more great mathematical proofs that will match the brilliance of Robert's youth.

Catherine's older sister, Claire, is the only non-mathematician of the group. Dreadfully practical and boring, Claire plans to sell the house and take Catherine back to New York City with her to find proper medical treatment.

When Hal finds an extraordinary proof in a locked bottom drawer, the tension rises dramatically. The question is, who wrote the proof, Robert or Catherine?

The theme of the play is deeper than mathematics, or the mystery of the proof's authorship. It is about love -- the deep love between father and daughter that is heightened by their mutual admiration and understanding of mathematics, and the growing love between Catherine and Hal that solidifies when their mutual mathematic understanding is acknowledged.

Robinson is outstanding in her portrayal of Catherine, carrying her many mood swings with finesse and physically showing the ups and downs of the character's existence. Rose has chosen to play Robert with calm sobriety rather than the electric mania one might expect of his character. The easy delivery suits his style, and we can easily sense the overwhelming love and pride he feels for Catherine and the overwhelming sadness he feels at not being able to work.

White is a perfect Hal in many ways, but perhaps too handsome and athletic to be a typical math geek. He regresses in age and appearance during a flashback to his first encounter with Catherine, and matures rapidly during the short course of the play.

Hedrick plays Claire with familiarity and ease, recapping her role with Austin State Theater. She yammers nonstop about her future husband, the advantages of New York, shopping and recipes, never stopping to really look at her younger sister, never recognizing her unique abilities. Hedrick succeeds in making us truly dislike her character.

The Island Packet, Friday, February 21, 2003, by Laura Marble

Comedy shines light on religion

Imagine this: You've survived a holocaust. For all you know, you're one of only a few people left on Earth. You've come to a bombed-out church seeking solace -- direction, perhaps.

There's only one problem.

Your religious mentor is stark-raving mad.

This disconcerting scenario is the basis of the South Carolina Repertory Company's upcoming comedy "Illuminati," which casts the audience as a church congregation.

The Island Packet, Friday, December 13, 2002 , by Louise Causey-Lewis

Kuhn shines in 'Gospel'

The South Carolina Repertory Company's current production of "Cotton Patch Gospel" is sensational.

The featured performer is Bruce Kuhn, who also was cast in a national tour of the show. A local band, The Lowcountry Boil Bluegrass Band, does dynamite backup of the clever, catchy tunes and lyrics of Harry Chapin.

A smattering of knowledge about Georgia geography and politics is helpful, but not totally necessary, for full appreciation of this unusual setting. The play retells the Gospel of St. Matthew, set 60 years ago in Valdosta, Ga. Program notes inform us that "...It was first (translated) by Dr. Clarence Jordan, New Testament Greek scholar and founder of an interracial farming community in Americus, Ga., in the 1950s."

From this description, we might assume that the play leans toward the sacrilegious zone, but don't jump to premature conclusions. After laughing and crying through 90 minutes of hysterical humor, I was stunned to realize that I had just experienced a deeply moving, boldly conceived, professionally executed performance that had both my brain cells and emotions running in high gear. In addition to being a funny parody of the Southern personality, "Cotton Patch Gospel is a profoundly moving religious experience.

Bruce Kuhn has full mastery of the primary role of Jesus. But with clever and subtle changes in posture, facial expression, gestures, and other carefully controlled mannerisms, he can instantly assume a multitude of guises, including a Southern politician, a distraught father, a "good old boy," a country evangelist or a young, naive disciple. Never stumbling or dropping a line, Kuhn carries the show, pausing occasionally for a solo song or an ensemble number with the band. He is a brilliant actor, possessing rare skills and highly polished talents.

The sparse, minimalistic set suits the mood and style of the play and proves to be amazingly versatile, as basic table and chairs assume other utilitarian functions. No program credits were given for the set, costumes or lighting, but the excellence and continuity of style were typical of the talented hand of director Pat Haskell.

The Island Packet, Friday, September 27, 2002, by Erin Becker

New season of theater begins with 'On Golden Pond'

"We picked it because it's a really delightful piece of entertainment," said Tom Evans, the show's director. "It's a very life-affirming show, and it's very funny."

The play, which originally opened Feb. 28, 1979, on Broadway at the New Apollo Theatre, also was made into the 1981 movie of the same title, starring Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn.

Set at a summer cottage on the idyllic Golden Pond in Maine, the play is about Norman Thayer, a retired professor in his late 70s, and how he confronts old age.

It also takes a look at the relationships between Norman and his wife, Ethel, and those with his daughter, Chelsea, and her new stepson, Billy.

Somewhat of a cantankerous fellow, played by Weldon Durham (who appeared in last year's "God's Man in Texas"), Norman is described by Evans as someone who "says all the things we wish we could say."

But Ethel, who's 10 years Norman's junior, helps to keep him in check. Ethel is played by Barbara Farrar, who has appeared in the theater company's productions of "W;t" and "Last Lists of My Mad Mother."