Hi,
AFAIK, a lot of folks are happily mixing mathplotlib and PyROOT. PyROOT can use either a separate progress thread or the input hook. See whether it makes a difference:import ROOT
ROOT.PyConfig.StartGuiThread = 'inputhook'
for input hook, or:import ROOT
ROOT.PyConfig.StartGuiThread = True
for progress thread.
Cheers,
Wim