SETTINGPlace: Rothko's Studio | 222 Bowery, New York CityTime: 1958 - 1959

DRAMATIS PERSONAEKen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Buddy Haardt* Mark Rothko . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Herrera*

* Member of Actors’ Equity Association** Member of United Scenic Artists

PRODUCTION TEAM

UNDERSTUDIES

Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Patrick FlickScenic Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bob Phillips** Costume Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Denise R. WarnerLighting Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Eric Haugen**Sound Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Britt SanduskyStage Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mick O’Neill*Assistant Stage Managers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Isis Blanco

Adrienne ForsytheLight Board Operators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mary Heffernan

Rob JobesWardrobe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carlene DeScalo

Ken . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bradford D. Frost Mark Rothko . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .N/A

SUPPORT

Orlando Shakespeare Theater in Partnership with UCF is a non-profit professional theater company sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Divison of Cultural Affairs, and the Florida Arts Council.

ROTHKO’S SEAGRAM MURALS

MARK ROTHKO BIOGRAPHYBorn Marcus Rotkovitch in the town of Dvinsk, Latvia, then part of the Russian Empire, Mark Rothko immigrated to the United States with his family at the age of ten, settling in Portland, Oregon. A gifted student, Rothko attended Yale University on scholarship from 1921-23, but disillusioned by the social milieu and financial hardship, he dropped out and moved to New York to "bum around and starve a bit." A chance invitation from a friend brought him to a drawing class at the Art Students League where he discovered his love of art. He took two classes there but was otherwise self-taught. Rothko painted in a figurative style for nearly twenty years, his portraits and depictions of urban life baring the soul of those living through The Great Depression in New York. The painter Milton Avery offered Rothko both artistic and nutritional nourishment during these lean years. In the 1930s, Rothko exhibited with The Ten, a close-knit group of nine (!) American painters, which included fellow Avery acolyte, Adolph Gottlieb. Success was moderate at best but the group provided important incubation for the Abstract Expression-ist school to come. The war years brought with it an influx of European surrealists, influencing most of the New York painters, among them Rothko, to take on a neo-surrealist style. Rothko experimented with mythic and symbolic painting for five years before moving to pure abstraction in the mid 1940s and ultimately to his signature style of two or three rectangles floating in fields of saturated color in 1949. Beginning in the early 1950s Rothko was heralded, along with Jackson Pollock, Willem deKooning, Franz Kline and others, as the standard bearers of the New American Painting--a truly American art that was not simply a derivative of European styles. By the late 1950s, Rothko was a celebrated (if not wealthy) artist, winning him three mural commissions that would dominate the latter part of his career. Only in the last of these, The Rothko Chapel in Houston was he able to realize his dream of a truly contemplative environment in which to interact deeply with his artwork. RED presents a fictionalized account of Rothko’s frustrated first attempt to create such a space in New York’s Four Season’s restaurant. Rothko sought to create art that was timeless; paintings that expressed basic human concerns and emotions that remain constant not merely across decades but across generations and epochs. He looked to communicate with his viewer at the most elemental level and through his artwork, have a conversation that was intense, personal and, above all, honest. A viewer’s tears in front of one of his paintings told him he had succeeded. While creating a deeply expressive body of work and garnering critical acclaim, Rothko battled depression and his brilliant career ended in suicide in 1970.

Mark Rothko’s paintings of color harmonies have been described as “enigmatic” yet “gripping” canvases. He intended his fields of luminous color to help viewers experience the “sublime.” Deeply influenced Friedrich Nietzsche’s writings, he was attempting to relieve humankind’s spiritual emptiness. Considered a pre-eminent American artist, in 1958 he accepted a commission to paint murals for The Four Seasons, a luxury restaurant in New York’s Seagram building. He envisioned dark murals hung high against a warm-colored background. He set up scaffolding and went to work in a studio that duplicated the dimensions of the restaurant.

Rothko experimented with various permutations of the floating rectangle composition he commonly used. He paired deep reds and maroons with browns and blacks. Red was especially important because it could be melancholy or fiery; it could thrust outward or recede into nothingness. Although there was space for only seven murals, Rothko created over thirty paintings. He assembled them multiple ways, but never settled on a final scheme.

PATRICK FLICK(Director | 10th Season)A four-time Emmy Award winner, Patrick serves as Associate Artistic Director at the Orlando Shake-speare Theater and is the producer of PlayFest! The Harriett Lake Festival of New Plays. He is also a Resident Artist here. Patrick currently serves The National New Play Network (NNPN) as the Literary Chair and is on the Board of Directors of the Shakespeare Theatre Association. For Orlando Shakespeare he has directed CHARM; THE COMEDY OF ERRORS; INTO THE WOODS; TWELFTH NIGHT; A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC; PRIVATE LIVES; KISS ME, KATE; and many other main-stage productions. PlayFest readings and workshops include HEAVIER THAN… by Steve Yockey, DO NOT GO GENTLE by Patricia Cornelius (international collaboration with PlayWriting Australia), MADONNA AND CHILD by John Pielmeier, BLUE SKY BOYS by Deborah Brevoort, and LEWIS AND CLARK REACH THE EUPHRATES by Robert Schenkkan.

MICK O’NEILL*(Stage Manager | 2nd Season)Mick is excited to be returning to Shakes after leaving Florida almost a year ago to work in New York. Most recently, he has been working on a new musical being developed for Broadway. This summer he will be returning to The Lost Colony, in North Carolina, as the Production Stage Manager for their 75th anniversary season. Mick is, finally, a proud member of Equity.

BOB PHILLIPS**(Scenic Designer | 18th Season)Bob has designed over seventy-five sets for Orlando Shakespeare over the past 17 years. Bob also regularly works with Pennsylvania Shakespeare, Arts Center of Coastal Carolina, Alpine Theatre Project, Florida Studio Theatre, and various companies in NYC. Bob is Production Designer for ‘SESAME STREET’ and ‘COME ON OVER’. He has received the Outer Critics Circle, Madison, Villager and Lillian Stoates awards for his theatre work, and six Emmy Awards for his television designs. Assistant to Mr. Phillips: David Lepore.

BRITT SANDUSKY (Sound Designer | Seventh Season)Britt is thrilled to be part of this production team once again. His formal training was at the Audio Recording Technology Institute here in Orlando. Britt has designed the sound-scapes for many Orlando Shakespeare Theater favorites including THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST, THE 39 STEPS, SHOTGUN, SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK LIVE!, ROBINSON CRUSOE, and many others. He also mixed live music for what is affectionately known as the “Beer Tent” on the “Green Lawn of Fabulousness” during the Orlando Fringe Festival last year. His film credits include many disciplines including Foley artist, re-recording engineer, ADR supervisor, dialog mixer and sound effects supervisor.

DENISE R. WARNER (Costume Designer | 11th Season)Denise serves as the Costume Manager and staff costume designer for Orlando Shakespeare Theater. Some of Denise’s previous design credits for Orlando Shakes include: CYMBELINE, SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, HAMLET, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, MACBETH, THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, DRACULA, YANKEE TAVERN, MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN, ARMS AND THE MAN, SHOTGUN, TWELFTH NIGHT, and THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU. Other professional credits include Center Stage – Baltimore, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Maples Rep, Mad Cow Theatre, Millbrook Playhouse, Michigan Rep, Orlando Opera, Orlando Rep and Penguin Rep.

PRODUCTION TEAM BIOS