“Art” Gets Hung at the West Boca

By Britin Haller

We wish we could give a good review to Art now running at the West Boca Theatre Company. We wish we could give a good review to every production in every theater, but to be a reliable source, that just can’t happen. Although, we do admit it is fun to be snarky every once in a while.

But the people at WBTC are good people, and they work really hard with what is probably not a very large budget since three individuals (Holly Budney, Alan Nash, and Mark Hernandez) do everything there other than the acting.

So we will do our very best to say nice things about Art with a little bit of snark thrown in because it can’t be helped.

Smaller houses like WBTC tend to go for smaller plays with few characters and one set. We get it. There are plenty of great shows to choose from that meet these requirements. Unfortunately, Art is not one of them.

Part of the problem comes from national promotions for the play. Art is billed thusly. “Art is a thought-provoking and hilarious exploration of the complexities of friendships, the subjective nature of art, and the impact of individual perspectives on relationships.”

Is it though? We only laughed twice, and the only thoughts it provoked involved looking at our watches. We’re glad Art was only 75 minutes long. Seriously, how is watching three unlikable and boring characters billed as a comedy? And why all the gratuitous profanity??

To be fair though, we always have trouble liking any piece with totally unlikable characters, as we need someone to root for.

Since Art premiered in Paris in 1994, it somehow managed to be translated into thirty languages and won the Tony Award for Best Original Play in 1998. We figured there must not have been any legitimate contenders that year, but Art (written by Yasmina Reza) beat out nine others, including Neil Simon, David Mamet, and Spike Lee. How though, and why? What is happening here? Do people really like this play?

The not-a-comedy revolves around Serge and his purchase of a piece of art. While it seems to bring him great joy, Serge’s two best friends suffer, as Marc can’t begin to contain his wild distaste, and even anger, at the canvas, while Yvan unsuccessfully tries to play monkey in the middle and facilitate a truce, wondering why if the painting makes Serge happy, then what’s the problem?

At one point, Serge says, “This is completely pointless.” We feel the same, Serge, we feel the same.

As Marc, the friend doing the perpetual pissing in Serge’s Cheerios, Seth Trucks is a madman on a mission. A mission to make his friend feel like the idiot that he is. “You spent two hundred thousand euros on this shit?” he asks Serge. Ironically, we have to agree with Marc there.

For some reason, the piece of art Serge brought home has clearly stirred up some unresolved childhood traumas in Marc who basically acts like a disrespectful five-year-old on too much sugar. “The older I get, the more offensive I hope to get,” Marc tells Yvan. If Marc ever comes to our house and throws one of our books like he does one of Serge’s, Marc is out the door. We love Trucks as an actor as he always bats a thousand when he steps up to the plate. He keeps his average intact here as well. Nicely done.

Even when a production isn’t great, we try to find at least one perfect moment to make it worthwhile. We just watched two full seasons of Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches series and would have bailed many times were it not for the enigmatic (and still handsome!) Harry Hamlin. But thank goodness we didn’t, because near the end of what may be the final episode (assuming no renewal), something remarkable happened that made enduring a lot of drivel worthwhile. We don’t recommend doing this, however.

In Art, actor Darryl Wilkes is this exception to the rule as he saves the day with his intense monologue about his stepmother and his upcoming wedding invitations. His hand and eye movements are great as he acts out the whole telephone conversation between himself and his real mother. “If Collette’s name is on there, take mine off,” she told him. Poor guy.

It’s neuroticism at its finest, and we thank Wilkes for giving us a bright spot in what is an otherwise dismal script, so much so he got a big round of applause when he finished, something not usually seen in a play. The bit about his therapist is also good, as Wilkes assumes the hunched-over posture of a defeated man. Okay, maybe Art does get a few more laughs than we initially gave it credit for, but still.

Due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control, the actor playing Serge backed out five days before opening, and the brave Greg Schuh (a consummate professional!) rode his white horse to the rescue. Sadly, no good deed goes unpunished, and we must mention Schuh was not completely off-book (understandably!)

For those not in the know, this means the actor holds his script in front of him while still performing all the stage directions. Other than a play-reading festival, this is the first time we’ve seen an actor be on-book, and we can’t lie, it’s weird. Especially when the pages are waved around, and we can see the orange-highlighted sections even from the back of the theater.

While it certainly can’t be helped, it is distracting to the audience who weren’t warned pre-show because Budney simply forgot to announce it. That happens. While willing to try to ignore it for the most part, because even on-book Schuh is aces, there is a pivotal scene where Serge makes the fight with Marc personal that lost a lot of its momentum due to Schuh looking down and being distracted. We understand from Budney that by the next performance, Schuh had set it all to memory, and no one was the wiser. Good for Schuh. It builds character. In more ways than one.

We last saw Schuh in WBTC’s terrific The Outsider as the spare to the governor’s seat who was thrust into a job he wasn’t prepared for. Schuh can act and is a terrific addition to any cast. We give him huge props for stepping in.

We want to make it clear that our dislike of this play has everything to do with the script, and less-than-zero to do with the actors. We admire their dedication to their craft, and we thank them for giving South Florida audiences their best, even during the most trying of circumstances, because while this was brutal for Schuh, it must have also been trying for Wilkes and Trucks to have a fellow castmate (especially in a cast of three) drop out at the last minute.

We love how the actors are all dressed in monochromatic dark colors to offset the stark whiteness of the artwork, and Budney’s use of vibraphone jazz (an instrument in the percussion family) is a nice touch.

Once a vaudevillian staple, this unique kind of music is credited to Lionel Hampton, among others. Budney says, “I liked the sound of the very clean crisp notes of the mallet on the vibraphone. No frills. Like the white painting. And using a couple of notes helped take the actors out of the scenes, and into the monologues, which broke the 4th wall.” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

A line uttered by Marc is unintentionally relevant according to Budney when asked if she wrote it. “Let’s see a movie with a little substance,” Marc says to his friends, as we took a moment to appreciate our queen, Demi Moore (robbed!)

And finally, to the always poised Holly Budney, we know having an actor pull out at the last moment is devasting, but sometimes bad things happen to good people, and you handled it with your usual aplomb. Even though Art was not to our liking, we appreciate the company bringing Tony Award-winning plays to their theater. We get that many people would never have a chance to see them otherwise. You’re performing a valuable service, and the South Florida theater community is lucky to have you, Alan Nash, and Mark Hernandez in our midst.

Besides, we know you’ll get ‘em next time. Because Budney knows, as all theater people do, that the show must go on.

West Boca Theatre Company will be choosing their next season soon.
Murder mystery anyone?

Britin Haller is a mystery author and an editor for Turner Publishing. Her recent short story “So Many Shores in Crookland” can be read in the 150th issue of Black Cat Weekly. Britin’s latest edit, a cozy mystery novel called Dumpster Dying is by Michelle Bennington and available where books are sold. Find Britin across social media.

Art from the West Boca Theatre Company runs through March 15 at the Levis JCC Sandler Center, 1050 95th Avenue S., Boca Raton (south of Glades Rd, west of Lyons, be prepared to present your driver’s license at the guard gate); 2 p.m. Wednesday and 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Running time 75 minutes with no intermission. Tickets starting at $35 for non-JCC members. Call 561-558-2520, or visit levisjcc.org.