Higher Ground, the media company founded by President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, today announced it will serve as a co-producer of the upcoming Broadway revival of Proof, the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play by David Auburn starring Ayo Edebiri and Don Cheadle.
Through Higher Ground, the Obamas join producer Mike Bosner and director/producer Thomas Kail on the Proof team. The strictly limited 16-week engagement begins performances at the Booth Theatre on Tuesday, March 31, ahead of a Thursday, April 16 opening night.
“To bring this landmark play back to Broadway with Ayo, Don, Tommy, and Mike at the helm is an extraordinary privilege, and we couldn’t be more proud to be part of this production,” said the Obamas in a statement. “Proof is exactly the kind of story Higher Ground was built to champion. A play that asks profound questions about brilliance, doubt, and what we inherit from the people we love most.”
Said Bosner and Kail, “We’re thrilled to welcome Higher Ground as partners on Proof and to have their creative vision and passion behind this production. Their impeccable taste in storytelling and community-building makes them ideal collaborators for this revival.”
In addition to Edebiri and Cheadle – both making their Broadway debuts – Proof stars Jin Ha and Samira Wiley. The production also marks the Broadway debut of Higher Ground.
Edebiri plays Catherine, a brilliant but restless daughter of renowned mathematics professor Robert (Cheadle) who 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.
Higher Ground’s expansion into theater follows previous work in film, television, and podcasting. The company has earned three Academy Award nominations (winning the Oscar for American Factory), 12 Emmy nominations (winning six), and three Grammy nominations (winning two), producing projects like Leave the World Behind, Crip Camp, Rustin and American Symphony.
Bosner is the producer of this season’s Cats: The Jellicle Ball and Shucked, among other productions. Kail’s Broadway directing credits include Sweeney Todd, Hamilton, Freestyle Love Supreme, In the Heights, Lombardi and Magic/Bird. His Broadway producing credits include Sweeney Todd, Derren Brown: Secret, and Freestyle Love Supreme.
The political-theater crossover isn’t the first to hit Broadway in recent seasons: Hillary Clinton was a lead producer of Shaina Taub’s suffragist musical Suffs in 2024.
