On Stage: Performing Arts at our Oneonta Campuses by Rachel Frick Cardelle
'Proof': Sibling Rivalry, the Mysteries of Science and Black Cat Energy
David Auburn’s “Proof” premiered in 2000, capturing the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play in 2001. Fortunately for me (and this community), 20 years later it also captured Jessy Gardner’s imagination as a freshman at SUNY Oneonta and now, as a senior, she is directing the play at SUNY. Every year, the Mask and Hammer Theatre Club at the university gives one junior or senior student the opportunity to direct a play, and this year Jessy was chosen. In getting ready to write this column, I spent time talking one-on-one with Jessy, attending a rehearsal, and interviewing the cast and crew. As always seems to happen, I learned from and enjoyed both the show and the students.
The show itself depicts two sisters, Catherine and Claire, dealing with the death of their father, Robert, a genius mathematics professor at the University of Chicago, who dies in his 50s after a lengthy battle with mental illness. Also in the play is Hal, formerly Robert’s graduate student, now a member of the mathematics department. Hal revered his former mentor and is dealing with his own grief by working to elevate and capture all Robert’s work so that his legacy will live on.
When Jessy and I sat down to talk, I began by asking her what had led her to want to direct a play. Early in her career at SUNY Oneonta, she told me, “I had auditioned for “Sweat” for the role of ‘Jessie’…but I did not get the role. …I remember going into Drew’s [Kahl, SUNY O faculty member and director of “Sweat”] office and I asked him about the try-outs. ‘What did you like about my audition? What didn’t you like? What were you looking for? How can I improve?’ As you should…student to professor. In the real world, it might not be as simple as that, but I’m always looking to learn and to grow here. This is the greatest place for it. … He said, ‘You weren’t quite what I was looking for, I was looking for qualities A, B and C …I liked the choices you made in your audition, though, you seem to have a directorial mindset.’”
Jessy went on to tell me about all the experience Prof. Kahl has as a theater director and that hearing him say this, given all his experience, made a real impression on her.
