Former presidents often build libraries. Barack Obama and Michelle Obama built a media company.

Higher Ground, the storytelling venture founded by the former president and first lady, announced it will co-produce the Broadway revival of Proof, David Auburn’s Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award–winning play. The production stars Emmy winner Ayo Edebiri and Golden Globe winner Don Cheadle, both making Broadway debuts. The limited sixteen-week engagement begins March 31 at the Booth Theatre with an opening night scheduled for April 16. 

The move places the Obamas inside another influential creative industry and reinforces a strategy that has defined their post-White House years.

Higher Ground launched with a simple idea. Storytelling shapes public understanding of history, culture, and power. Film, television, podcasts, and digital media became the company’s primary tools. Theater now joins that portfolio.

Key art, created by visual artist Alexis Frankin. 

Proof centers on Catherine, the daughter of a renowned mathematician named Robert. After his death, a notebook containing a revolutionary mathematical proof appears among his papers. Questions emerge about authorship and credibility. Catherine must navigate grief, intellectual inheritance, and the pressure to prove her own brilliance. 

Barack Obama and Michelle Obama described the revival as exactly the type of story Higher Ground was created to champion. The play examines doubt, genius, and what people inherit from those they love. 

That philosophy has guided the company’s rise across entertainment.

Higher Ground earned an Academy Award for American Factory. The company produced projects including Crip Camp, Rustin, American Symphony, and the Netflix film Leave the World Behind. The slate spans documentary, narrative film, audio storytelling, and digital series. Emmy and Grammy honors followed as the catalog expanded.

The company also built an independent podcast network featuring IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson, Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso, and Audible Originals such as The Wonder of Stevie and Fela Kuti: Fear No Man. 

Broadway represents a natural extension of that storytelling ecosystem.

The theater remains one of the most influential artistic institutions in the United States. Productions on Broadway often shape artistic conversation across television, film, and touring productions. A revival supported by figures with global visibility brings additional attention to a work that already holds a prominent place in American theater.

The creative team behind the revival includes Tony Award–winning director Thomas Kail and producer Mike Bosner. Their involvement adds a strong Broadway pedigree to the production. 

Casting also signals an intergenerational moment in entertainment. Edebiri has emerged as one of the most recognizable performers of her generation through television and film. Cheadle carries decades of acclaimed screen work into his first Broadway role. Their collaboration connects contemporary Hollywood with live theater tradition.

For the Obamas, the production adds another layer to a legacy that now extends far beyond electoral politics.

Political leadership focuses on nation building. Cultural investment shapes imagination.

WorldsEdge readers first saw coverage of the revival when casting news surfaced on New York Edge News where Ayo Edebiri and Don Cheadle’s Broadway debuts were first reported. 

Proof opens in April.

Tickets for the Broadway revival of Proof now on sale through Telecharge at: https://www.telecharge.com/proof-tickets, by phone at 212-239-6200, or through the production website https://www.proofbroadway.com. 

The run lasts sixteen weeks.