By John Van de Ven

What is art? What is the meaning of it? Is it up to the artist to decide, or is it up to whoever happens to be experiencing it in a given moment? Red explores these questions through the lens of famous artist Mark Rothko and his young assistant Ken. Red is about abstract artist Mark Rothko and how he viewed his art.

In Red writer John Logan creates an interesting depiction of Rothko’s methods and process, and how he viewed his work and art in general. I found it to be an introspective and somewhat cerebral exploration of Mark Rothko’ s art. This sometimes funny, and often serious show inspired me to actually look up and read about Mark Rothko and one of the first things I read was about the paintings this show is about.

Red opens with Mark Rothko (played by Scott C. Brown) staring at one of his latest paintings, as Ken (Seamus C. Smith) walks into Rothko’s New York studio. After a lengthy and wordy primer, as well as careful positioning in front of the painting by Rothko, Ken is asked what he sees. “RED!” Ken nervously blurts out, after a bit of back and forth between the two. Soon after we learn that Ken is there for an a job as an assistant to Rothko, who responds with a laundry list of things he expects.

From the beginning we can see that this pair contrast each other. Rothko is confident and brash, while Ken is more careful and contemplative. Regardless of their differences though, they are tied by the common bond of a love of art. Throughout the story we get bits of Rothko’s philosophy, such as that doing art is more thinking about and studying the piece, and only about ten percent is actually applying paint to canvass.

BAT’s production of Red is well paced and never feels rushed, it never misses a beat even during scenes where the pacing slows a bit (Stage Director Beau M.K. Prichard; Stage Manager Cyndi Baumgardner). 

BAT did a good job putting this production together (Production Managers Eric Dickman and Maggie Larrick), the stage is well lit, even while simulating Rothko’s staging of showing his paintings under a lower light to add to the effect of his works (lighting design by Jacob Viramontes; light and sound operator by Cyndi Baumgardner). The set is made to look like Rothko’s New York studio, filled with canvass’ and paint, with only a few pieces of furniture (set design by Maggie Larrick). This includes a record player that Rothko uses as inspiration and provides a bit of background music. Red light illuminates the stage in between scenes, sticking with the popular Rothko theme. The sound quality is excellent, and every line can be heard clearly from the back row, even while background music is playing (sound design by Scott C. Brown, who also painted the Rothko replicas used in the show).

As of this writing, Red is running every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from April 12th through May 5th, with show times starting at 8 pm Fridays and Saturdays and starting at 2 pm on Sundays, with the exception of no show on Sunday, April 28th. Kennedy Catholic High School is hosting this BAT production, and is located at 140 S 140th St. Burien, WA 98168. You can purchase tickets online at https://v6.click4tix.com/event-details.php?e=431659&domain=BAT , or at the door for, $25 for general public, $20 for active duty or seniors, and $5 for students.

Red is part of BAT’s 44th season. BAT Theatre has been performing shows in the Puget Sound area over the last40 years, and is a non-profit 501(c)(3) entity that relies on ticket revenue, donations and volunteer help.