Redbud Productions is now presenting the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning play, "Proof," by David Auburn. The show runs May 31-June 3 at the Riverside Arts Center, 76 N. Huron St. in Ypsilanti. Catherine (Emily Rogers), a troubled young woman, has spent years caring for her brilliant but unstable father (Tim Grimes), a famous mathematician. Now, she must deal with her own volatile emotions; the arrival of her embittered sister, Claire (Leslie McCarty); and the attentions of one of her father’s former students (Dave Barker), who hopes to find valuable work ho hopes to find valuable work in her father’s 103 notebooks - but discovers a mystery instead.

For Redbud’s staging of "Proof," the cast used theater games, emotional recall techniques and events from their own lives to connect to the characters’ emotions. Rehearsals included many improvisations, based on their characters’ past lives (developed through character study sheets), to more fully investigate the individuals whom they portray. Director Loretta Grimes trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and has been teaching acting to area youth and adults for years, based on the methods of Sanford Meisner. Many cast members in this production are current or former Redbud students. She most recently directed "One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest," "Vanities," and appeared in Redbud Productions' "August: Osage County," "Rabbit Hole" and as Vivian Bearing, the cancer patient in "Wit." She has directed and performed in many other Redbud plays and has won several awards from The Ann Arbor News and Current Entertainment Monthly for her efforts as an actress and director. Loretta and her husband Tim Grimes are the founders of Redbud Productions (redbudproductions.com). To reserve tickets for "Proof," call Redbud Productions at 734-663-7167.