American Players Theatre: 'ART'

Allie Bugajski, Allie and the After Party

Men Can’t (Or Won’t?) Express Their Feelings

Serge grins excitedly, holding back pure delight. He clasps his hands and says, “Do you want to see it?” He walks into the other room and we wait anxiously for him to come back. He returns holding the canvas, the front turned in towards himself so we can’t see it just yet. He presents it with a flourish for the grand reveal and it’s….white. All white. With some horizontal and diagonal white lines running across it. This. This is the painting that causes a rift for three friends and we see if their friendship can survive it in ‘ART’.

When Serge (Marcus Truschinski) spends a pretty penny on this piece of modern artwork, his two friends pass their own judgements. Marc (Triney Sandoval) expresses his disbelief loudly. When it doesn’t seem like Serge is amused by his judgements, he goes to Yvan (La Shawn Banks). When Yvan doesn’t believe Marc, he goes to see Serge. They all talk about each other to each other without ever addressing the person they’re talking about. A dialogue driven show, ‘ART’ is all about how they’ve all changed as people and so their arguments aren’t really about the painting. The only problem? No one wants to actually talk about it.

In the heat of the moment, there’s a pause. A spotlight hits one of them, the others freeze, and they turn to us. Here in these asides, we see completely different sides of them than what they’re showing their friends. We get their inner thoughts and self-reflections. But then the lights come back up and we’re dropped back into real life where they refuse to be vulnerable. They can’t seem to stop themselves from arguing or dancing around the issue instead of just airing it all out.

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