By Aaron Malkin, Senior Literary Fellow
With Red arriving as a package (complete with some incredible reviews from the Chicago papers) from The Goodman Theatre, the staff at Arena has been able to devote our energies elsewhere. Although the D.C. run of Red is just beginning, we are already in the midst of an informal citywide celebration of Mark Rothko's life and work. You can see the paintings that are at the center of Red at the National Gallery of Art, The Pink Line Project is curating a Guerilla Gallery show in Arena's Molly Smith Study, and The Phillips Collection is celebrating the full breadth of Arena's work in D.C. at their February Phillips After 5 Event (to name just a few). Here is an extensive guide to the engagement both at the Mead Center and around the city (For more information, visit our EVENTS page):
EVENTS AT ARENA STAGE
Engage at Arena Stage Panel Series
Sundays at 3:30 p.m.
Take part
in a conversation following performances of Red with guest panelists, ranging from Rothko experts to artists.
Jan. 29: “Imagining Rothko.”
Over the past 50 years, Mark Rothko has become a monolithic figure in American culture, but where is our 21st century understanding of the noted abstract expressionist rooted? Lynn Russell (Director of Education), Harry Cooper (curator of modern and contemporary art), and Ruth Fine (curator of special projects in modern art and lead author of the gallery’s Rothko catalogue) from the National Gallery of Art, the largest public repository of Rothko’s work, join actor Edward Gero to explore how Rothko has figured into the public imagination.
Feb. 5: “Artistic and Psychoanalytic Approaches to Understanding Character and Conflict.”
How do actors grapple with the inner life and conflicts of the people they portray? How does psychoanalysis contemplate the effect of unconscious forces on individuals and relationships? How do the characters affect the audience? Join actor Edward Gero and psychoanalyst Jill Scharff in discussion of character and conflict.
Feb. 12: “The Act of Creation.”
What fuels the act of creation? Actor Edward Gero and Phillips Collection Curator at Large Klaus Ottmann delve into how Mark Rothko’s life influenced his work and how Rothko’s life and work influenced Gero’s performance in Red.
Feb. 19: "Playing with Paintings"
"Order. Design. Composition. Tone. Form. Symmetry. Balance." These lyrics speak to the principles of art and elements of design that painter George Seurat grapples with in Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George. But are these principles and elements unique to the visual arts? Actor Edward Gero, Matthew Gardiner (Associate Artistic Director of Signature Theatre), and Michael Dove (Artistic Director of Forum Theater) come together to dicuss the unique experience of working on plays about visual art from the prospective of an actor in Arena Stage's Red, the director of Signature's Art, and producer of Forum's bobrauchenbergamerica.
Piano Bar
Feb. 1 at 9 p.m. | Arena Stage Lobby
Join cast members from Red and Elephant Room for a rousing (dare we say magical?) post-show piano bar. Stick around after the show or drop by just for the party. Wow the crowd with a song, sing along, or grab a drink at the bar and enjoy a fabulous night!
“Seeing Red” Art Show
Feb. 3-5 | Arena Stage
“I measure these ingredients very carefully when I paint a picture. ... It is always the form that follows these elements and the picture results of the proportions of these elements.” – Mark Rothko
Inspired by Mark Rothko’s stand against making art that only an elite class would ever see, the Vestibule Guerilla Gallery presents street art that everyone can see. For Seeing Red, creative director Joseph Orzal has assembled a team of talented, emerging D.C. street artists who have shown their work on the streets and in galleries. The Guerilla Gallery provides an opportunity for larger audiences to see art work outside the confines of traditional spaces and it embodies the ideal that great art must be felt in your gut before it is understood in your head.
Get Caught Red-Handed Day
Feb. 4 from noon to 7 p.m. | Arena Stage
Check out the Vestibule Guerilla Gallery’s artwork, take in a show, enter to win fabulous prizes and add your handprint to a piece of art to be displayed in our lobby through the run of Red. Prizes include tickets to Arena Stage’s entire season as well as a free membership to The Phillips Collection.
EVENTS OFF-SITE
Mark Rothko: Seagram Murals
Dec. 6, 2011-Aug. 15, 2012 | National Gallery of Art
In 1985 and 1986, the National Gallery of Art received the largest gift of works from the Mark Rothko Foundation, including several paintings deriving from the Seagram Mural project, a series of paintings Rothko created through the commission he received for New York’s Four Seasons restaurant. This special installation of three of these works is timed to coincide with Arena Stage’s Red, which dramatizes Rothko’s struggle with the commission.
Phillips After 5: A Valentine to the Arts
Feb. 2 from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. |The Phillips Collection
Arena Stage joins the Phillips for a special edition of its popular monthly program. A lively mix of art and entertainment, Phillips After 5 includes gallery talks, live music, food and a cash bar. Arena Stage staff lead brief acting classes, featuring improvisation games, diction exercises and basic movement. In another workshop, paintings in the Phillips Collection come to life as participants act out scenes from select works.
Film Screening of “Rothko’s Rooms”
Feb. 22-23 at 12:30 p.m.| National Gallery of Art
This documentary tells the story behind the creation of the room designed for Rothko’s Seagram Murals in London’s Tate Mode rn. Rothko’s Rooms (2000, 45 min.) is filled with anecdotes about the artist culled from friends, family members and curators.
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