![]() ![]() As only great drama can, “Red,” sets a mirror, asking us to consider the arc of our own lives, to place our own humble beings in the balance of eternal consequence. “What do you see?” Rothko asks at the play’s opening and end. ![]() Bent, with total transformation of manner and hair, it must be noted, is no charicature he has become Rothko.Īt the last, we are compelled to our feet in mute admiration and applause. Masterful performances by actors Bent and Penley are elevated by superb set design, lighting, soundscape, costuming, makeup, and stage management. Lost Nation, however, presents “Red” with a perfectly rendered palette. ![]() It would be easy to miss the mark in its staging. “black pall of nothing, nothing, nothing - nothing at all,” cruelly envisioned by Archibald McLeish in “The End of the World.” The artist, fully realized in Bent’s performance, teeters on the edge between sublime artistic achievement and the crushing nihilistic The play begins with Ken, a freshly minted art school graduate, star-struck by this unbelievable opportunity.Īs the drama unfolds, Ken provides a perfect foil for Rothko’s bravura ego, shimmering genius, and Olympian perfectionism, as they build to a heart-wrenching climax. Brilliantly conceived by playwright Logan is Rothko’s fictional assistant, Ken, played by Levi Penley. The drama is based upon the very real story of Rothko’s struggle with this commission. We are led in this spellbinding production through two excruciatingly intense years as Rothko creates a visual symphony of immense paintings for the Four Seasons Restaurant in Phillip Johnson and Mies van der Rohe’s fabled mid-town Manhattan skyscraper, the Seagram Building. On the evening of the first rehearsal in mid-May, he was already working with Bent, co-founding director of Lost Nation, as the actor worked his way into the lionized Mark Rothko’s manner and mien.īent, was clearly struggling, at this early stage in the production’s development, with what would become by last weekend a compelling realization of the artist’s complex being. This show is a high bar and Lost Nation sails over it.ĭouglas Sprigg, Middlebury College theater professor for 33 years, was lured out of retirement to direct. Think “Hamlet” performed in an intimate setting with strong notes of Eugene O’Neill and Arthur Miller. Book your tickets today for one of the eight remaining shows featuring Kim Bent as artist Mark Rothko and Levi Penley, as his assistant.įirst produced in London in 2009, “Red” stormed New York for 10 weeks the following year, winning a Broadway-best six Tony Awards, including Best Play, and the 2010 Drama League Award for Distinguished Production of a Play.Īt Lost Nation, this is riveting drama with the seasoned Bent giving the performance of a lifetime and Penley superbly rising to the occasion in the two-person production. Word is out about last Saturday’s jawdropping performance. Get up to see Lost Nation Theater’s staging of John Logan’s “Red,” at City Hall Arts Center in Montpelier this coming weekend or next. (Herald / Bob Eddy)Some choices are obvious. “What do you see?” painter Mark Rothko (portrayed by Kim Bent, right) asks of his assistant, Ken, (played by Levi Penley) in Lost Nation Theater’s staging of John Logan’s Tony Award winning play “Red,” now through Sunday, June 19.
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