SEQUIM — Olivia Shea wasn’t expecting this thing to overtake her.
On a train ride to Portland, Ore., Shea, a theater director, picked up “Red,” a two-year-old play about art.
“Red” is the story of a creator at the peak of his powers, a man seeking to paint his masterpiece. It’s about the interplay between art and money — lots of it — and between an older man and a young apprentice.
“It grabbed me from the beginning,” said Shea, adding that all the way to Oregon she stayed glued to the script. She was traveling with a friend, but scarcely spoke to her until they arrived in Portland.
There, Shea went to a show by the artist about whom she’d read: the late Mark Rothko, the Russian-born abstract painter who had spent much of his life in the Rose City. The Portland Art Museum had mounted a retrospective, while Portland Center Stage was presenting “Red,” which had won 2010’s Tony Award for best play on Broadway.
Shea returned to Sequim with the fresh desire to direct “Red” here. And the play, written by John Logan for just two performers locked in dialogue for one 90-minute act, opens tonight for a three-weekend run at Olympic Theatre Arts, 414 N. Sequim Ave.
Show time this evening is 7:30; as always on opening night, OTA will host a reception at 6:30 p.m. with complimentary champagne, sparkling cider and appetizers.
“Red” stars Mark Valentine, a Port Angeles High School English teacher, as Rothko and Colby Thomas, a Sequim actor, as Ken, his young assistant. Both men say this is a once-in-a-great-while opportunity.
It’s summer 1958, and Rothko has just been given a $35,000 commission — $1.5 million in today’s dollars — to paint a set of murals for the Seagram company’s new Four Seasons restaurant in Manhattan. At the time, it was the largest commission ever awarded to an artist.
An aging lion at this point in his career, Rothko still wrestles with the present and the future. He lives in a self-insulated world where colors are characters and paintings epic dramas.
Oh, and he hates going outdoors. Natural light doesn’t work for him, Rothko says.
“What do you see?” he asks, as Ken looks at one of his canvases.
“Stand closer. You’ve got to get close. Let it pulsate. Let it work on you . . . let it wrap its arms around you; let it embrace you.”
This could be said of “Red,” which to Valentine’s mind is unusual fare.
“It’s an intense, emotional play,” he said, that “grips the viewer.”
Valentine is entranced by how “Red” delves into the creative process, the relationship between mentor and protégé, and the tension between old guard and new school.
“Rothko was trying to create a new way of seeing,” said the actor. With his deep colors, primitive shapes and brushed layers, “he wanted his paintings to send you somewhere.”
One of the most stunning scenes, added Shea, is when Ken stands up to Rothko. He suggests that the artist is nothing but a pretentious windbag with a superiority complex, and that Rothko has sold out to Seagram’s: “The High Priest of Modern Art,” Ken says, “is painting a wall in the Temple of Consumption. You rail against commercialism in art, but pal, you’re taking the money.”
Shea, for her part, is dazzled by the play, and by Valentine and Thomas.
“These two actors are very inventive,” she said.
Due to their work schedules, the rehearsal period for “Red” has been a fierce three weeks.
Another intense presence on stage: Rothko-esque paintings by Elaine Caldwell. The Sequim artist, also a driving force behind the renovation of Olympic Theatre Arts’ main stage, finds everything about this production extraordinary.
“I love the fact that they’re doing [‘Red’],” Caldwell said. “It’s very powerful.”
Painting in Rothko’s shadow, she added, “was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had.” Using his intense colors, looking for that pulsating quality, Caldwell felt that she connected with her fellow artist.
Both she and Shea know “Red” is far from the typical summertime outing at Olympic Theatre Arts. They fervently hope it will inspire audience members to have their own dialogues about art’s effect on the world.