Art by Yasmina Reza
AUTHOR
TRANSLATOR
DIRECTOR
COMPANY
LOCATION
Chenango River Theatre,
Greene, New York, USA.
YEAR
2022
Art by Yasmina Reza is a sharp, funny, and surprisingly tender play about friendship under pressure. Reza is a French playwright, novelist, and actor known for tightly written comedies that expose the fault lines in everyday relationships.
First staged in 1994 at the Comédie des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Art quickly became a success in anglophone spheres, partly thanks to the translation by British playwright, Christopher Hampton, but partly also because the play taps into that decade’s very public arguments about the value and purpose of contemporary art. Reza uses an almost-blank painting to turn a taste debate into a sharp, funny fight about status, identity, and friendship.
The story begins when Serge buys a very expensive painting that appears to be almost completely white. Marc thinks the purchase is ridiculous and feels offended by what it says about Serge’s taste and values. Yvan is their mutual friend, stuck in the middle, already overwhelmed by his own life and desperate to keep everyone calm. What starts as a debate about modern art quickly becomes an exploration of how well friends can truly see each other, and what happens when honesty turns into cruelty.
This production was directed by Craig Johnson in 2022 at the Chenango River Theatre, a small venue in New York State. The cast features Drew Kahl as Marc, Zach Curtis as Serge, and Joey Sponseller as Yvan. Design and production credits include set by Justin Hooper, costumes by Barbara Kahl, lighting by Julie Duro, and sound and original composition by Alex Jashinski.