The actors at the Butler Little Theatre are busy crafting the characters of David Auburn's 2001 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play, "Proof," which opens March 19.

The cast of four includes Katy Wayne, who plays Catherine.

"She is 25 and struggling with the very recent death of her mathematical genius, but mentally unstable father and her own mental turmoil," said Wayne.

"Catherine's basic fears, desires and concerns are pretty universal. But her genetic background and the environment she has lived in for so many years may have affected her to such an extreme that she may be at a mental state that I have never known or had experience with," said Wayne of the challenge to capture the essence of Catherine.

"I had the opportunity to portray this same character this past summer for Red Barn Theater in Allison Park. I was hoping to play the role again to see how I would perceive the character differently and how the character would react with different actors playing the other three characters," said Wayne.

Catherine sacrificed college to care for her mentally ill father, who was once a brilliant, much-admired mathematician. After his death, she is left in limbo.

One of her father's former students, Hal (Aaron Shackelford), shows up even before the funeral wanting to cull through the copious notebooks her father kept during the years of his decline, hoping to find a mathematical golden nugget. Not long after Hal arrives, Catherine's cosmopolitan, blandly successful and pushy sister, Claire shows up.

Her plans to sell their father's house and take Catherine with her back to New York throw Catherine into an internal struggle.Butler attorney Terri Schultz, who plays Claire, said, "This play is about relationships, and one of them is my relationship with Catherine, who has become seemingly mentally unstable like her father."Claire, while dealing with her sister, also has to confront her own guilt for leaving her father and sister alone to deal with his illness," explained Schultz."My life experience of having an older sister has been great training for this role," she added."The play itself is a mystery. The mystery that the audience must figure out is who wrote the famous mathematical proofs. Robert or Catherine?" said Schultz.She last appeared on the BLT stage in "Red Herring," when she played the part of Lynn."I auditioned for this role because I read the play and enjoyed it," she said.The father is played by Dennis Casey of Butler Township."I play Robert, who is, or was, dominant, deranged, and now their dead dad," he said.While Casey is still living,unlike his character, he does share the love of his daughters with Robert."Actually, I appreciate the themes of this play very much. It says something about family relationships, moving into adulthood, dealing with adversity, and establishing one's own identity," Casey said. "The play is extremely 'tight,' well written and the characters well defined. Audience members are almost sure to see things, good and bad, in themselves in these characters."As director, Gary Collar is the man charged with the burden of "Proof," which is seemingly no burden for him at all. He is delighted at directing such a popular show."'Proof' added balance to the season, which has included comedy and music. A mystery of this type also is different from the usual type of mysteries."Also, it is an award-winning show that has played well everywhere," Collar said.He thinks the audience will enjoy the story: "They will enjoy the clash of characters. It is a real 'whodunit' with a twist; and a somewhat 'ghostly' appearance."Audiences can judge for themselves if "Proof" is worthy of its Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award verdicts.