The Guthrie Theater's 'Art' wrestles with questions of the heart

It's a different and original reason for a breakup.

In French playwright Yasmina Reza's 1994 play "Art," three friends find themselves in a relationship that's coming undone not because of infidelity and any other quotidian reasons.

They are sharply at odds because one of them buys a white-on-white painting. Serge spends $200,000 on the canvas that befuddles pals Marc and Yvan, implicitly raising a question that flies like a dagger at the heart of their friendship: "Do I even know you?"

"We often love the people we love for who we need them to be for us, and that's not always a harmful thing," said Kimberly Senior, who is directing the production of "Art" that opens Friday at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. "We hold up mirrors for one another, and in successful relationships, we get to change."

What happens when that change becomes impossible?

The Guthrie production lands at a time when men are increasingly becoming more evolved about friendship and feelings. "Art" was translated from French by Christopher Hampton, who also translated Reza's "God of Carnage," staged at the Guthrie in 2011.

The 1998 Broadway production of "Art" starred Alan Alda, Alfred Molina and Victor Garber. It won the Tony for best play but that's not its only honor. The play has been translated into nearly three dozen languages and has been produced in 45 countries.

Senior first saw "Art" in London in 1996 shortly after graduating from Connecticut College, and has loved it ever since. It's foundational for her because it raises deep, even existential questions in such an intimate and powerful way.

"On the surface, it's about how the canvas affects the dynamics of their relationships but it's also about how men, in general, navigate passions and emotions," Senior said.

Male friendships are often built around activities, and Serge and Marc are trying to see a movie for the majority of the play. But the artwork puts them at a totally unexpected impasse, and they sort of don't know how to break the logjam.

"They're stuck in a moment where they don't have the language tools to articulate how they're feeling," Senior said.

Ha! There's the rub. Men and feelings are like oil and water. That's not new information for therapists or theater artists. Edward Albee, for example, made a career of the blood sport of men trying to get a handle on their emotions in plays like "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

At least that's some of what Senior and her three actors — Robert O. Berdahl, Max Wojtanowicz and newcomer Patrick Sabongui — discovered as they plumbed the script.

Instead of speaking directly to or about their feelings, men sometimes use stand-ins to express their emotions, Senior said, pointing to the passion that men exhibit as sports fans and the emotional amplitude they display, including hugging each other, screaming in anger and sadness, and crying.

But can a piece of art play the role that star athletes do in, say, fantasy football? Senior and her team certainly hope so.

Still, as heady as the play sounds, she wants patrons to know that "Art" is rife with humor.

"It's quite funny but not in a slapstick way, even though so many of my influences are like Lucille Ball," Senior said. "It's just funny to watch these men attempt to connect to one another. The laughter allows us to release tension and let in some of the harder things of the story."

Nor is it just a case of me-me solipsism.

"Art" is 90 minutes long with no intermission. Guthrie authorities hope the play will have a second act as a takeaway, this one enacted by the audience.

For the question at the center of the play pulls the rug out from under the characters as much as it raises questions for the audience.

"If you're not who I think you are, then who am I?" Haj said. "As the play unfolds, we can't help but examine our own identities and relationships."