Pittsburgh Magazine: Best of Culture this Month in Pittsburgh

Best of Culture This Month in Pittsburgh

Check out some of the finest plays, dance performances and exhibits taking place in March in Pittsburgh.
February 26, 2020
Sean Collier, Karen Dacko, Lauren Davidson

March 19-28 | ‘Proof’

I remember reading “Proof,” a gripping drama by David Auburn, as a theater student. My mind was blown: This is fundamentally a show about math, and yet it’s very, very interesting. OK: It’s not really about math. It’s a tale of family expectations and the burdens laid upon children, as a brilliant mathematician loses his wits and leaves his daughter to clean up his life’s mess. “It’s really all about how families deal with mental illness,” says Riverfront Theater Company director Lora Oxenreiter. “How they deal with the possibility that it could be inherited, and how we get through that.” The play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2001. “It’s so well-written; the dialogue is beautiful,” Oxenreiter says, adding that more actors showed up to audition than any other show in the company’s history. The play will be staged at Riverfront’s new home in Aspinwall Riverfront Park, an intimate venue on the banks of the Allegheny River. (Math people, please don’t email me. I’m sure math is interesting once you get to know it.)
Aspinwall: Aspinwall Riverfront Park, 285 River Ave. 412/228-0566, riverfronttheaterco.org