The Arts Council will be holding auditions for “ART” the Tony Award-winning play that focuses on the meaning of art (in the form of a solid white painting) as well as the meaning of friendship, to both the man who bought the painting and the two friends who come to see it.
Auditions will take place on Friday, March 1, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, March 2, at 2 p.m. at the Arts Council offices in Galax (608 West Stuart Drive – park at the Galax Public Library and walk across the Veteran’s Memorial to the two-story, red brick building). Directed by Dr. David Beach, rehearsals will begin in mid-March, and the play will be performed on May 16, 18 and 19 at the Rex Theatre in Galax. We are looking for three male actors ages 30 and above. Everyone is welcome to audition and perusal scripts are available at the Arts Council offices. For additional information, call the Arts Council office at 276-238-1217.
Director David Beach describes the play in these words: How much would you pay for a white painting? Would it matter who the painter was? Would it be art? One of Marc’s best friends, Serge, has just bought a very expensive painting. It’s about 5 feet by four feet, all white, with white diagonal lines. To Marc, whose artistic tastes run to the traditional, the painting is a joke, but Serge, who espouses an avant-garde esthetic, insists Marc doesn’t have the proper standard to judge the work. Another friend, Yvan, a bit of a bumbler burdened by his own problems, allows himself to be pulled into this disagreement. Eager to please, Yvan tells Serge his likes the painting. Lines are drawn and these old friends square off over the canvas, using it as an excuse to relentlessly batter one another over various failures. As their arguments become less theoretical and more personal, they border on destroying their friendships. At the breaking point, Serge hands Marc a felt tip pen and dares him: “Go on.” This is where the friendship is finally tested, and the aftermath of action, and its reaction, affirms the power of those bonds.
