PRINTThe art of the question
Joshua A. Bickel
(from left) Brett Johnson and Frank Lasik discuss the abstract painting that is at the center of Yasmina Reza’s play Art during a rehearsal on Tuesday, Mar. 11, at MU’s Corner Playhouse.
March 20, 2008 | 12:00 a.m. CST
“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life,” Pablo Picasso once proclaimed. Picasso wasn’t the only one who came up with a response that doesn’t definitively answer the age-old question of what art is. Philosophers dating as far back as Plato and Aristotle have theorized about what concrete rules classify this abstract subject. Defining art has become a more local topic, as the MU Theatre Department presents French playwright Yasmina Reza’s play, Art.
In Reza’s internationally performed dark comedy, three friends discuss the definition of “good art” to the point of conflict. The arguments begin after Serge, a cultured and evidently wealthy man, shows his pals an abstract painting he has just bought for $40,000. In the play, the painting is described as “a canvas about 5 foot by 4: white.” Marc, a one-time mentor of Serge who rejects the minimalist painting, is now wondering if it is his friend’s judgment that is a blank canvas. He ponders, “Is this simple, almost monochromatic canvas — hardly a painting at all — meant as a hoax?” Yvan, the third amigo, is forced to mediate the arguments that emerge out of the seemingly empty painting. The dispute concerning aesthetic values eventually begins to symbolize a deeply embedded rift between two friends.
What: Art by Yazmina Reza, presented by MU Theatre
When: March 20, 8 p.m.; April 3 - 5, 8 p.m.; April 6, 2 p.m.
Where: Corner Playhouse, MU
Cost: $7
Call: 882-7529
“Superficially, this play does raise questions of ‘what is art?’,” explains Judith Sebesta, an assistant professor of theater history, theory and criticism at MU. Sebesta directs this production of Art at the Corner Playhouse, March 20 and April 3 - 6. “But beneath that, the more important questions to me are: What is friendship? On what foundation do our friendships rest? And what does it take to shake that foundation?”
Sebesta, who has been directing plays for 20 years, decided to make her MU directorial debut with a comedy. Preferring smaller productions that emphasize the actors, she has found a perfectly hued production in Art and plans on following the original play closely. “This is an actor’s play,” Sebesta says. “It really focuses on the acting and the characters that these actors build. It is not about spectacle. It is not as much about the set.”
And though creating Art is a serious matter, Sebesta attempted to keep her stage production fun. “I have tried to make sure that the rehearsals and the whole process have had a sense of fun and playfulness that the actors can translate to the stage in their performances,” she says. The play consists of comedic humor and sparkling dialogue. But what is more, she is determined to keep it less than 90 minutes, thereby foregoing an intermission.
“(The audience) will be in and out,” Sebesta says. “And hopefully they’ll leave with some new ideas about, if not what is art, then, what is friendship.”
