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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 9, 2003)
BY KAUKAB JHUMRA SMITH NOW PLAYING: !"#$%&'#(#$)*#+,#*#$-. !6*&2*2712#89:&9;)89(5: %<8))-8*1&2=2*8*1.! /0,12*2&32245- Words & Music by Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller Directed by Joe Zingo Now through October 18, 2003 Cabaret Theater, 996 Willamette FINAL WEEKEND: !"##$% &'()*+"$,% -".+"% /0.1 The Bremen Town Musicians A charming children’s concert classic & instrument petting zoo Eugene Symphony Giancarlo Guerrero, Conductor Shirley Guerrero, Narrator By Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Directed by Jesse D. Lally Saturday, October 18 !"#$%&'()*&+,**-.! 10:30 am & 12:15 pm /0,12*2&32245- (12:15 show presented in Spanish) Now through October 11, 2003 Concert Sponsor Celebrate our 25th season! 683-4368 www.ActorsCabaret.org ❥ Annex Theater, 39 West 10th HAL (LIAM DRUMM) AND CATHY (JENNIFER COOMBS) TALK MATH IN PROOF. Tickets $5 & $8 Hult Center 682-5000 Convincing Proof Lord Leebrick premieres Auburn work. T hey say there’s a fine line between genius and insanity. The sensitive, ruefully funny play Proof by David Auburn deals with the question of how to know when you’ve crossed it. A brilliant mathematician, Robert (Bary Shaw), attempts an answer: If you can ask yourself “Am I crazy?” he says, then you are not. The only problem with this, points out his daughter Cathy (Jennifer Coombs), is that despite being able to question him- self, Robert is insane. The wry Cathy must wrestle the demons raised by the legacy of Robert’s mental illness, and his death, before she can grasp at her own future. Sensitively directed by Craig Willis, Lord Leebrick’s new artistic director, the Pulitzer- winning Proof plays out the tumultuous tide of Cathy’s emotions against the calm, tree- shaded back porch of a run-down university house. The setting in the intimate Lord Leebrick Theatre places the audience literal- ly in Cathy’s leaf-littered Chicago yard. Cathy’s at a loss when her father dies: Once a gifted student, she had dropped out of school to care for him. Her emotions are stretched tight as a drum, she has no plans for the future, no means to support herself beyond her older sister’s charity, and no college degree. After five years of playing parent to a father who would vacillate infu- riatingly between coherent ideas and intel- ligent-sounding babble, she says simply, “I’m tired.” Coombs puts in a heartbreakingly vulner- able performance as Cathy, combining a com- plex emotional spectrum with sardonic comic timing. Conflicting emotions — insecurity, amusement, anger, pride, betrayal — flicker across Coombs’ face, making her scripted lines only half of her onstage dialogue. The scenes between Coombs and Shaw are won- derful to witness, both father and daughter clearly sharing a love for each other and for mathematics, all while under the looming shadow of Robert’s mental illness. Shaw’s deterioration from a self-possessed professor to a shivering old man is full of pathos. Coombs’ expressive face also exposes Cathy’s unease and increasing bitterness toward her older sister Claire (Valerie McMahon), and her blossoming relationship with her father’s former student, Hal (Liam Drumm). When she tells Claire steadfastly about Robert, “I’m glad he’s dead,” Coomb’s words are poignantly unconvincing. Home for the funeral, the business-like Claire has been working in New York all the years Cathy has been at home taking care of their father. The two sisters are clearly out of sync with each other, and Coombs and McMahon use ironic pauses to great effect to show the disjoint in their relationship. Chic and cosmopolitan, Claire ! 30TH ANNUAL DOLL SHOW SPONSORED BY EUGENE AREA DOLL CLUBS DOLL & TEDDYBEAR EXHIBIT AND SALE NEW DATES! NEW PLACE! 9-5, Sat., October 18 12-5, Sun., October 19 FEATURING THE TEDDY BEAR ROUNDUP FOR LOCAL CHARITIES • Please donate teddy bears, dolls or toys! (NEW or clean “gently” used) • • • • Special exhibits Seminars Door Prizes Free appraisals (limit 2/adult admission) • • • • Videos SALES TABLES Raffles Demos AT THE MASONIC CENTER • 2777 MLK BLVD. • CONTACT DONNA 541-935-0751 (old Centennial Blvd, across from Autzen Stadium) in Eugene, OR • Admission $4 • EASY FREE PARKING • Food Service EMAIL: perfume@efn.org 56 OCTOBER 9, 2003
