New Proof Star Anne Heche Sidelined by Respiratory Infection

Anne Heche, who took over the central role of Catherine in the Broadway production of David Auburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Proof last night, missed today’s matinee performance and is not expected to return to the show until Friday.

According to Chris Boneau, the show’s publicist, Heche “has a respiratory infection. She started feeling it over the weekend but, because they were teching and doing final rehearsals, she just sort of soldiered through. She did the performance last night–it went very well, apparently–but then she woke up this morning not feeling well and went to a throat specialist based at a hospital. They gave her drugs, sent her home, and she’s out of the show until Friday.” Boneau described media reports that Heche had been “hospitalized” as inaccurate; he said that she would definitely not be in the show this evening and might or might not be able to appear in the matinee scheduled for this Friday to make up for the fact that there will be no performance tomorrow, July 4. Understudy Caroline Bootle is covering for the star.

Heche’s role in Proof, originated on Broadway by Mary-Louise Parker and subsequently played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, is that of “an enigmatic young woman who faces the challenges of a genius father, an unexpected suitor, and a mysterious mathematical proof only to realize that love is the most complex equation of all.” Joining the cast last evening along with Heche were Len Cariou, Neil Patrick Harris, and Kate Jennings Grant. Proof plays at the Walter Kerr Theatre on West 48th Street, where it opened on October 24, 2000.