Proof, winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award for Best Play, will be staged Oct. 23-26 in the Red Barn Theatre at Keuka College.

Curtain is 8 p.m. for the Thursday, Oct. 23-Saturday, Oct. 25 shows, and 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 26.

Written by David Auburn, Proof was touted as a “smart and compassionate play of ideas that combines elements of mystery and surprise with old-fashioned storytelling” by The New York Daily News. It centers on Catherine, a troubled young woman who spent years caring for her brilliant but unstable father, Robert, a famous mathematician.

Following Robert’s death, Catherine is forced to 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. The discovery of a mysterious notebook leaves Catherine to wonder whether she has inherited her father’s madness or genius.

The New York Observer said of Auburn: “[He] takes pleasure in knowledge… at the same time, he is fresh and humane.” New York Magazine writes: “When we think of the great American playwrights, we think of Arthur Miller and Eugene O’Neill and Lillian Hellman, in earlier generations; Wendy Wasserstein and Tony Kushner, John Robin Baitz and Donald Margulies, today: They are always writing about big ideas and wrapping them in family squabbles that get us where live. Welcome David Auburn to the club.”

The Keuka production is directed by Mark Wenderlich, associate professor of theatre. Patrick Caughill, a junior English major from Buffalo, is cast as Robert; Meghan Russell, a senior English major from Amsterdam, is cast as Catherine; and Brian Enck, a freshman adolescent social studies education major, is cast as Hal. The cast also includes Sara Munio, a junior adolescent mathematics/special education major from West Winfield (Claire). Stephanie Lange, a freshman American Sign Language (ASL)-English Interpreting major from Appalachin, is the stage manager.

Tickets are $4 for Keuka College faculty, staff, students and alumni and $7 for the general public, and are available in the Keuka College bookstore or online at www.genevarts.com.