The Messenger 11.14.07

Dyersburg State Community College’s Theater Department will stage “ART,” a critically-acclaimed play about friendship and the meaning of art, at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the DSCC Learning Resource Center (LRC) lobby.
Performers include DSCC student Corey Sawyers of Newbern, former DSCC student and current University of Tennessee at Martin student Adam Akin of Halls and DSCC faculty member Bobby Solmon. DSCC student Wanda Davison of Dyersburg is stage manager and DSCC/Dyer County High School dual enrollment student Lee Sikes is lighting/sound designer.
Students from DSCC’s Introduction to Theater classes are working with the set, costumes and props. DSCC associate professor of Speech and Theatre Meleia Lewis is directing the production.
The play by Yasmina Reza tells the story of Serge, who pays a large amount of money for a painting best described as “all white.” The purchase tests his relationship with two lifelong friends, Marc and Yvan. One friend chastises him for overindulgence, while the other seems at first supportive, despite his misgivings about the purchase.
Originally written in French, “ART” premiered in Berlin before moving to Paris, where it won two Molieres, the French equivalent of the Tony awards. The play traveled to the West End in London to great acclaim before arriving on Broadway in 1997. The play, which has been translated into more than 20 languages, contains some potentially offensive language and parental discretion is advised for those under age 13.
Tickets, available at the door, are $3 for students, staff and senior citizens and $5 for all others. The Theater Department is staging the play in the LRC because the First Citizens National Bank Auditorium will be closed until September 2008 while the DSCC Student Center is under renovation.