PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE ACTORS GROUP Three friends, played by, from left, Russell Motter, David Farmer and Mark Stitham, find the art in keeping a friendship.

More than just
a work of art

This production of 'Art'
is built on friendship

---

By Dave Donnelly
ddonnelly@starbulletin.com

WHEN it was announced I'd be directing "Art" for The Actors Group at Yellow Brick Studio, a young reporter from another publication called and asked, "Is this the first play you've directed?"

It got me to thinking that it has been some time since I've staged a play. The last few things I've done, she had no way to know about, and the last three were all musicals: "Law and Disorder," a musical comedy I co-wrote with Patrick Downes and which I directed for the Hawaii Bar Association, the first show staged in the Hawai'i Convention Center theater; "Mame" for Army Community Theater; and "A ... My Name is Alice" for Manoa Valley Theatre.

'Art' Where: Yellow Brick Studio, 625 Keawe St. When: Opens at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, continuing 7:30 p.m. Thursdays to Saturdays, and 4 p.m. Sundays through March 2 Tickets: $10 Call: 591-7999

My background in directing goes back to 1961 at the University of Hawaii. I've directed dozens of works, largely with the Oumansky Magic Ring Theater in the Hilton Hawaiian Village, the Players' Group and the Mallory Players, all now sadly gone.

I've done both comedies and dramas, which is one reason "Art" appealed to me so much; it straddles both genres. The play has never been staged in Honolulu.

"Art" won the Moliere Award in Paris, where it was first staged in 1994 under the watchful eye of Parisian playwright Yasmina Reza. It won the Olivier Award (England's Tony) and the Evening Standard Award for best comedy of the year in 1996. And when a Broadway edition opened a couple of years later starring Alan Alda, it won a Tony for best new play.

When taking on the directorial reigns of a play, certain factors come into play. Simply put, you should like the play. If you love it, that's even better. It should be doable in terms of casting and staging. And it should have the ability to attract an audience.

"Art" scores on all counts. It closed this month after running for more than six years, convulsing audiences nightly with a variety of casts. Its original threesome was Albert Finney, Tom Courtenay and Ken Stott.

I've always felt that casting a play well is about 70 percent of a director's job. I was extremely fortunate locally in that all three members chosen for "Art" showed up at auditions: David Farmer, former head of the State Foundation of the Arts, and two experienced actors I'd seen in other plays locally, Mark Stitham and Russell Motter.

Farmer is an attorney, Stitham is a psychiatric physician and Motter a teacher at Iolani. Judging from rehearsals this far, "Art" will be the best work any of them have done.

The Actors Group is a small, nonprofit theater where one works for love. In other words, everyone is unpaid, including me and the actors.

Director of the play, Dave Donnelly.

Also working for the joy of doing their best is one of the finest technical crews in Hawaii. Cathie Anderson, who normally makes good money designing lights, agreed to be lighting designer out of friendship. So did sound designer Jason Taglinetti. And Chris Higgins literally dragged himself from his bed to overcome a lingering illness to be stage manager and run the lights and sound nightly.

Veteran actress Dorothy Stamp stepped forward to be producer. Jonathan Lange built the set.

I selected the furniture, loaned by old friend and auctioneer Marty McLain. Another old friend, Chris Friese, painted the white modernist painting that lies at the heart of the matter, as two old friends argue on its merit and, by extension, the worth of their friendship. Friese got two other painter friends to execute other paintings to hang in the apartments of the other two principals.

The play hinges on both the art in the lives of the three friends, but also the art of maintaining a friendship. Both Serge, the dermatologist who bought and loves the white painting, and Marc, his best friend who thinks of it as a gigantic joke, had assumed their friendship was strong, but this work of "Art" puts it to the test.

It doesn't sound from the description like a laugh riot, but despite the seriousness of the situation, it becomes one, with serious moments as well.

It's about the most fun I've had in a theater for years, and I'm hoping the same is true for Honolulu audiences.

Enjoy!

Click for online
calendars and events.