By Emilie Parten, Reporter for the Navco Chronicle
“Red” was given a standing ovation on Saturday, August 17th as its final performance closed. The Warehouse Living Arts Center ran John Logan’s “Red” from the 14th to the 17th at the Fator Studio in downtown Corsicana. “Red” is set in the late 1950’s and follows the famous painter Mark Rothko and his assistant, Ken as Rothko attempts to paint a series of murals for the elite, expensive Four Seasons Restaurant in Manhattan, New York. Rothko struggles with the idea of putting his paintings into such a highfalutin environment, believing the snobby, rich patrons of the restaurant would fail to understand the art works or, worse yet, fail to see them at all. Eventually, Rothko opts to return the generous pay he has received for the commissions, telling his assistant the restaurant would be an inappropriate place for his paintings to be seen at.
The play is deeply philosophical, touching on the amount of soul that an artist puts into their works and the amount of courage it takes to let those pieces of soul be seen by public eyes, especially when that soul is battered and damaged by the struggles of life and living. The actors who played Mark Rothko, John S. Davies’, and Ken, played by Christian Cuellar, portrayed the troubled comradery with compassion and understanding, working well off each other as the story became more and more intense. The gentlemen brought to life the deeper wounds of their counterparts, allowing the audience to understand how and why each of them became the person they were, foreshadowing each of their fates even as they made the audience hope for a different outcome. Quietly tragic, the play ends with a hopeful future for one and a bleak outlook for the other.
John S. Davies’ has more than 30 years of acting experience covering a wide range of mediums including stage, TV and movie productions. He has taught and directed various productions and his expertise of the art shows through in his performance.
Christian Cuellar, while significantly more inexperienced than his stage partner, showed a deep understanding of his characters struggles and exceptional promise in the field, having already performed in three other productions with the Warehouse Living Arts Center.
Both gentlemen were immensely deserving of the praise they received at the end of their performance Saturday night. “There is only one thing I fear in life, my friend… one day the black will swallow the red.” -From John Logan’s RED, page 28.
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