Samira Wiley Exits “Proof” on Broadway Due to 'Treatable Medical Condition That Calls for Her Full Attention'
Samira Wiley Exits “Proof” on Broadway Due to 'Treatable Medical Condition That Calls for Her Full Attention'
Dave QuinnTue, March 17, 2026 at 5:28 PM UTC
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Samira Wiley at the season 6 premiere of Hulu's 'The Handmaid's Tale' at the TCL Chinese Theatre on April 2, 2025 in Hollywood, CaliforniaCredit: Maya Dehlin Spach/FilmMagic -
Samira Wiley has exited the Broadway revival of Proof due to a treatable medical condition requiring her full attention
Two-time Tony winner Kara Young will replace Wiley in the role of Claire in the limited 16-week production
Proof, a Pulitzer Prize–winning play, will be directed by Tony winner Thomas Kail and opens April 16 at the Booth Theatre
Samira Wiley is withdrawing from the upcoming Broadway revival of Proof due to a health issue.
The award-winning actress will no longer appear in the play, producers announced on Tuesday, March 17, because of a “treatable medical condition that calls for her full attention."
She was meant to star opposite Emmy, Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe winner Ayo Edebiri, Academy Award nominee and two-time Golden Globe winner Don Cheadle, and Grammy nominee Jin Ha.
With the news, the production offered its "complete support and well wishes."
No further information was given about Wiley's condition. PEOPLE has reached out to her representative for comment.
This would have been Wiley's Broadway debut. The Juilliard graduate, 38, has done stage work in London and Off-Broadway, and is best known for her Emmy-winning turn as Moira in Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale and her beloved breakout role as Poussey Washington in Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black, which earned her two SAG Awards for Best Ensemble.
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Kara Young accepts the Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play award for 'Purpose' onstage during The 78th Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 8, 2025 in New York CityCredit: Kevin Mazur/Getty
Two-time Tony Award winner Kara Young will now take over the role of Claire in the new staging of David Auburn’s Tony Award– and Pulitzer Prize–winning play.
Young was most recently seen Off-Broadway in Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries. Last year, she made Broadway history as the first Black performer to win two consecutive Tony Awards for Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Purpose (2025) and Ossie Davis’ Purlie Victorious (2024).
In addition to her two Tony Awards and four consecutive Tony nominations for Best Featured Actress in a Play, Young has also won two Drama Desk Awards, an Outer Critics Circle Award, an OBIE, a Lucille Lortel Award and an AUDELCO Award.
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She will also appear this year in the film adaptation of Alesha Harris’ Is God Is and in Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters, which also features her Proof costar Cheadle.
A poster for 'Proof' on BroadwayCredit: Alexis Frankin/ Proof on Broadway
Directed by Tony Award winner Thomas Kail, Proof will play a strictly limited 16-week engagement at Broadway’s Booth Theatre.
Preview performances begin Tuesday, March 31, ahead of an opening night scheduled for April 16.
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.
A play about family, genius and the blurred lines between brilliance and instability, the drama was an immediate hit when it first premiered Off-Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club in May 2000. It transferred to Broadway in October that year, and ran at the Walter Kerr Theatre through January 2003.
Original stars Mary-Louise Parker and Larry Bryggman both earned Tony nominations for their performances, as did featured actors Ben Shenkman and Johanna Day. The play wound up winning three Tonys: Best Play, Best Actress for Parker, and Best Direction for David Sullivan.
The accolades continued later that year, when Proof was awarded the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
In 2005, the play was adapted into a feature film starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins and Jake Gyllenhaal.
Tickets for Proof are now on sale.
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Source: “AOL Entertainment”
