ART imitates life at Everyman Theatre
Kyle Prue, Bruce Randolph Nelson, and Tony K. Nam have been friends and fellow ensemble members in the resident acting company of Everyman Theatre for decades. Now they get to take that friendship and that history onto the stage and tear it apart every night for the sake of their art.
Or, in this case, for the sake of Yasmina Reza’s ART, the award-winning play penned some 30 years ago by the French-speaking playwright and getting a timely, resonant revival at Everyman as part of the theater’s 35th anniversary season (directed by Associate Artistic Director Noah Himmelstein), playing from October 19th – November 16th.
Prue spoke with me by phone moments before jumping into one of the final technical rehearsals before opening, offering his thoughts on how his history–and longstanding friendships–with his fellow actors not only helps them take more risks in rehearsal but enriches the play’s exploration of the boundaries we set for ourselves and others.
Reza’s play provides a glimpse into adult friendship, particularly among men, that is surprisingly rare in theater–probing the depth of shared history and shared values, the stakes of speaking your mind, and the emotional costs of challenging convictions or assumptions. What happens when the person you thought you knew, and cherished, shakes the foundations of your expectations? How far should loyalty go? How much truth is too much?
And if life imitates art in this production, drawing on the shared history of the three actors, the play itself also has art turn life upside down, with a piece of conceptual modern art at the heart of a heated debate that puts to the test fundamental definitions–pitting objective standards against subjective opinions–while also turning relationships and perspectives inside out.
Tickets, times, and more information are at https://everymantheatre.org/
