TWO-TIME TONY AWARD® WINNER
KARA YOUNG
JOINS AYO EDEBIRI, DON CHEADLE, AND JIN HA
IN THE CAST OF THE FIRST EVER BROADWAY REVIVAL OF
“PROOF”
THE TONY AWARD AND PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING PLAY
WRITTEN BY DAVID AUBURN
DIRECTED BY TONY AWARD WINNER THOMAS KAIL
New York, NY (March 17, 2026) – Two-time Tony Award® winner Kara Young joins the cast of the first ever Broadway revival of David Auburn’s Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize®-winning play Proof, directed by Tony Award winner Thomas Kail.
Young will play ‘Claire, joining Emmy, SAG, and Golden Globe Award® winner Ayo Edebiri, Academy Award® nominee, two-time Golden Globe Award winner, and 11-time Emmy Award nominee Don Cheadle, and Grammy Award® nominee Jin Ha in the strictly limited 16-week engagement which will play Broadway’s Booth Theatre (222 West 45th Street). Preview performances for Proof begin Tuesday, March 31, ahead of a Thursday, April 16 opening night.
Emmy and SAG Award winner Samira Wiley, who was previously announced to play ‘Claire,’ is withdrawing from Proof, with the production’s complete support and well wishes, due to a treatable medical condition that calls for her full attention.
Young was most recently seen Off-Broadway in Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries. Last year, she made Broadway history by being the first Black performer to win two consecutive Tony Awards for Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Purpose (2025) and Ossie Davis’ Purlie Victorious (2024). This year, Young will also star in the film adaptation of Alesha Harris’ Is God Is and appear in Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters which also features her Proof co-star Cheadle. In addition to her two Tony Awards and record setting four consecutive Tony nominations for Best Featured Actress in a Play, Young has won two Drama Desk Awards, an Outer Critics Circle Award, an OBIE, a Lucille Lortel Award, and an AUDELCO Award.
The creative team for Proof includes Academy Award and Emmy Award winner Kris Bowers (original music), Teresa L. Williams (scenic design), Tony Award winner Dede Ayite (costume design), Amanda Zieve (lighting design), Obie Award® winner Justin Ellington and Conor Wang (sound design), Academy Award and Emmy Award winner Mia Neal (hair & wig design), Daniel Swee, CSA (casting director), and Sara Gammage (production stage manager). Baseline Theatrical serves as general manager for the production.
In Proof, Catherine (Edebiri), the brilliant but restless daughter of renowned mathematics professor Robert (Cheadle), is thrust into turmoil when a notebook containing a revelatory proof is discovered after his death. As debate erupts over its true authorship, Catherine must confront the power of legacy, and the cost of proving herself.
Proof had its world premiere Off-Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club in 2000, becoming a sold-out smash and immediately transferred to Broadway where it received six Tony Award nominations and won three including Best Play and the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play has been widely produced all over the country and internationally has received productions in London, Manila, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo, and others. Proof was adapted by Auburn into a feature film that was released by Miramax Films in 2005.
Proof is produced by Mike Bosner and Thomas Kail.