Red
Master abstract expressionist Mark Rothko has just landed the biggest commission in the history of modern art, a series of murals for New York’s famed Four Seasons Restaurant. In the two fasci- nating years that follow, Rothko works feverishly with his young assistant, Ken, in his studio on the Bowery. But when Ken gains the confidence to challenge him, Rothko faces the agonizing possibility that his crowning achievement could also become his undoing. Raw and provocative, RED is a searing portrait of an artist’s ambition and vulnerability as he tries to create a definitive work for an ex- traordinary setting.
RED premiered at the Donmar Warehouse Theatre, London on December 3, 2009, Michael Grandage, Artistic Director. Original Broadway Production Produced by Arielle Tepper Madover, Stephanie P. McClelland, Matthew Byam Shaw, Neal Street Productions, Fox Theatricals, Ruth Hendel/Barbara Whitman, Philip Hagemann/Murray Rosenthal and The Donmar Warehouse.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Born Marcus Rotkovitch in the town of Dvinsk, Latvia, then part of the Rus- sian Empire, Mark Rothko immigrat- ed to the United States with his family at the age of ten, settling in Portland, Oregon. A gifted student, Rothko at- tended Yale University on scholarship from 1921-23, but disillusioned bythe social milieu and financial hard- ship, he dropped out and moved to New York to “bum around and starve a bit.” A chance invitation from a friend brought him to a drawing class at the Art Students League where he discov- ered his love of art.
He took two classes there but was otherwise self-taught. Rothko painted in a figurative style for nearly twenty years, his portraits and depictions of urban life baring the soul of those living through The Great Depression in New York. The painter Milton Avery offered Rothko both artistic and nutritional nourishment during these lean years. In the 1930s, Rothko exhibited with The Ten, a close-knit group of nine (!) American painters, which included fellow Avery acolyte, Adolph Gottlieb. Success was moderate at best but the group provided important incubation for the Abstract Expression- ist school to come. The war years brought with it an influx of Euro- pean surrealists, influencing most of the New York painters, among them Rothko, to take on a neo-surrealist style. Rothko experiment- ed with mythic and symbolic painting for five years before moving to pure abstraction in the mid 1940s and ultimately to his signature style of two or three rectangles floating in fields of saturated color in 1949.
Beginning in the early 1950s Rothko was heralded, along with Jackson Pollock, Willem deKooning, Franz Kline and others, as the standard bearers of the New American Painting--a truly American art that was not simply a derivative of European styles. By the late 1950s, Rothko was a celebrated (if not wealthy) artist, winning him three mural commissions that would dominate the latter part of his career. Only in the last of these, The Rothko Chapel in Houston was he able to realize his dream of a truly contemplative environment in which to interact deeply with his artwork. RED presents a fiction-alized account of Rothko’s frustrated first attempt to create such a space in New York’s Four Season’s restaurant. Rothko sought to create art that was timeless; paintings that expressed basic human concerns and emotions that remain constant not merely across de- cades but across generations and epochs. He looked to communi- cate with his viewer at the most elemental level and through his artwork, have a conversation that was intense, personal and, above all, honest. A viewer’s tears in front of one of his paintings told him he had succeeded. While creating a deeply expressive body of work and garnering critical acclaim, Rothko battled depression and his brilliant career ended in suicide in 1970.
Likenesses of the Rothko Seagram Mural Panels used with permission.
© 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
A native Washingtonian, Maureen is proud to call Pensacola her second home. She holds a B.A. in Theatre from Florida State University. Maureen has been an avid Little Theatre volunteer since 2001. She most recently directed Five Women Wearing the Same Dress for PLT’s MainStage season.
crew
Director - Maureen McNeill
Assistant Director - Cristina Fenger
Stage Manager – Wayne Peacock
Scenic Designer – Shana Solomon
Lighting Designer - Choh Man Teng
Sound Designer - Maureen McNeill
Props Coordinator - Stef McNeill
Backstage Crew - Jana Miles & Gavin Parmley
Set Construction and Painting - Kayla Stephenson, Carol Mankins, Barry Boyd, Choh Man Teng, Nicolas Fenger
Production Coordinator – Billy Buff
Studio 400 Committee Chair – Barbara Jacobs
PLT Artistic Director - Kathy Holsworth
PLT Technical Director - Kayla Stephenson
PLT Assistant Technical Director – Bryan Chapman
PLT Marketing Director - Ashley McGlothren
cast
STEPHEN C. LOTT AS MARK ROTHKO
Stephen has been a consistent volunteer at PLT for the past three decades. Although in recent years, he has been more active as a director of shows such as Moana Jr, Mary Poppins, and Shrek the Musical. He was last seen on stage as Van Helsing in the Studio 400 production of Dracula: A Real Pain in the Neck. As a painter and sculptor himself, Stephen is excited to explore the mind of a great artist.
nathan simmons as ken
Nathan is very excited to return to the stage at Pensacola Little Theatre. Performing since high school, Nathan received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre from the University of West Florida in 2011. His most recent roles include Garcin in Arrant Knavery’s production of No Exit, Jesus in End Days at Kaleidoscope Theatre, and Bobby O’Gara in the premiere of Taking Stock as part of the Studio 400 season.
SPECIAL THANKS
Shang Hai of Gulf Breeze
Painting With A Twist
Quayside Art Gallery
Blue Morning Gallery
Stephen Lott
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