Obamas’ Higher Ground producing its first Broadway show

Former President Obama and Michelle Obama are Broadway bound — the former first couple’s production company is helping bring a revival of “Proof” to the Great White Way. 

Higher Ground Productions, which the Obamas launched in 2018, will produce the play, which is poised to premiere on March 31 in New York. Variety first reported news of the show on Wednesday.

Actors Don Cheadle and “The Bear” star Ayo Edebiri are set to star in the Thomas Kail-directed production.

“To bring this landmark play back to Broadway with Ayo, Don, Tommy, and [producer Mike Bosner] at the helm is an extraordinary privilege, and we couldn’t be more proud to be part of this production,” the Obamas said in a statement provided to ITK.

The play, which was written by David Auburn and originally played on Broadway in 2000, tells the story of Catherine, the daughter of a University of Chicago professor. Following her father’s death, Catherine finds a notebook containing a mathematical proof. 

“As debate erupts over [the proof’s] true authorship, Catherine must confront the power of legacy, and the cost of proving herself,” promotional materials for the Broadway show said. 

In their statement, the Obamas said the tale 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.”

“Proof” marks an expansion into the theatrical world for the former president and first lady’s production company. Higher Ground has spearheaded a multitude of film, TV and audio projects over the years. In 2020, the Obamas’ company snagged an Academy Award in the best documentary feature category for “American Factory.”

It’s not the first time a White House resident has had a producing role on a Broadway show. In 2023, former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton served as a producer on “Suffs,” a Broadway musical about the women’s suffrage movement. And long before he entered the political world, President Trump was an associate producer on the short-running 1970 Broadway production “Paris is Out!”

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