David Auburn, Pulitzer Prize and Tony winning writer of Proof is also in residence here this month, and well, he’s just the best. Hilarious in a subtle and surprising way, a deep thinker, very kind. Yesterday he took an hour to answer all of our nerdy process and Proof related questions. Obviously, there were lots of questions about Proof, being that every undergraduate theater student, well, ever,  has crossed paths with it. We’ve all read it, we’ve all seen it, we’ve all done scenes from it.

But he’s written tons of other plays since then, as well as had pretty solid directing and screenwriting careers. When asked how he felt about said Fame Play, and about a resurgence of regional productions of it this year, he said I’ve got a weird relationship with that play. It’s like looking at a really old picture of yourself  and thinking, meh – I look okay I guess – why was I wearing that shirt ? It was one of those brilliant tiny moments when someone you idolize or see has having achieved the pinnacle of success becomes incredibly human. Of course it’s weird to have your entire career defined by one thing you wrote when you were younger. But it’s inspiring to see that 10 years later, he’s still gettin after it, which is a gift, as he aptly put, to still be doing the thing you did in college, for fun.