What is ART

I’ve always liked the play Art, by Yesmina Reza, and hope to someday be able to play Yvan, Marc, or Serge.  Maybe I like the play because it really explores the concept of “best friend” dynamics.  It is a play about friendship and questions how one behaves when someone close does something unexpected or immature to our specific values.  This dark comedy is centered on three best friends who debate whether an expensive painting is really a piece of art.  I’m not sure if this concept has been done before, but I would really love to play out this piece in the middle of an art gallery…perhaps at an opening event.  The whole space would be used as the “stage” for Marc, Yvan, and Serge to debate and fight about the white painting that is considered to be a true work of art.  Or perhaps they can use an obscure piece of art from an installation and have the audience question with them whether it is truly art or not. Usually, the play is set in the apartments of the three friends, but I would want to place the action in the art gallery.  Each character has asides to the audience in the play, and I would want these characters to grab the attention of specific spectators in the gallery and really talk to them—recruiting them, on their side if possible, as part of the debate.  I would want it to be a piece that’s duration is flexible with what actually happens in the gallery; there would be multi and local focus moments during the event.  Spectators would see characters interact in the scenes, but then separate into different areas of the galleries after a heated argument.  Spectators could choose who they want to follow and interact with them until another scene ensues when the characters run into each other again.   This could be the type of performance where a spectator needs to see the event three different times to follow the journey of each character throughout the evening.  Not only will it be a play about friendship dynamics and what art truly is, it will become a piece about what performance is considered.  Spectators will intermittently wonder whether this is a performance or a real event taking place in the art gallery.  There will be periods of intense action but also periods of stillness and reflection.  The script of the play will be used, but also whatever improvisation naturally happens with the spectators present. It will be a “night-filling” play!  Here's a scene from the play with women in the roles:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c6Op9q7sas

This type of experience would force the spectator to side with a particular character; whereas a normal staging of the play allows the audience to understand each character’s point of view and eventually determine which point of view they identify with.  I think this approach will enhance the piece into a more visceral experience for the audience. It becomes a different experience than the already compelling experience a normal staging of the play produces.  The themes of the play are put into action with the spectators. They will find themselves agreeing or disagreeing, as well as reacting or not reacting to the performance.  How involved will the audience become?  How far will they allow the characters to interact the way that they do?  How will they interact with other spectators?  What points really unnerve them into action?  The experience turns a public, sacred space into more of a public, private space.   

I agree with Kantor’s thoughts, however, there is still merit to traditional theatrical productions.  In some aspects, found environmental spaces remind me somewhat of naturalistic elements.  As artists, we are expected to think outside of the box.  When a concept or production really pushes the boundaries, meanings, and concepts--and it works--it changes the experience of the audience as well as the performer.  We want to give a new experience and change the audience somehow in the arts.  We want to inspire but can only do so with inspiring work. There is nothing more exciting than experiencing something new or unexpected because it produces something new and unexpected in myself.  The theatre is a social medium that can affect us in such a meaningful way, both the performer and the audience.