English students attend a field trip to learn more about theatrical literature

After studying the play "Proof" by American playwright David Auburn in class, English teacher Jennifer Pust's Advanced Placement (AP) 11 grade students got the chance to watch the script become animate. On Tuesday, Feb. 11, the students took a field trip to see a staged reading of "Proof" at Edythe and Eli Broad stage.The play was presented by Classic and Contemporary American Plays (CCAP), which is a program that aims to expose junior and senior high school students in Los Angeles County to the rich and diverse universe of the American canon of theatrical literature.“CCAP works with teachers to help make students more excited about theater and playwriting.” Pust said. “Samo hasn’t used the program since 2009, when [Nathan] Fulcher took one of his classes.”Through CCAP, the students were able to meet with the play’s director, Ernest Figueroa, and discuss the choices, characters and symbols in the play.“Proof,” is about the fictional character Catherine, the daughter of Robert, a recently deceased mathematical genius in his fifties and professor at the University of Chicago, and her struggle with mathematical genius and mental illness.“The play was very light on plot yet very heavy on character development, so I'm hoping to better understand why that is, and how the actors will be able to portray a play with so little plot but still keep the audience engaged,” Alaleh Mokhtari (’15) said.After the staged reading, the students participated in a talkback with the cast including Charlie Robinson, Tracey Leigh, Jennifer Shelton and Tohoru Masamune.“I'm just hoping to gain a better understanding of ‘Proof.’” Mokhtari said. “I'm hoping for the actors to portray something about the play that I had missed or failed to acknowledge while simply reading it on my own.”osherman@thesamohi.com