And now, from Boulder, comes a play that’s pretty as a picture.
Plays about art tend to be high-concept and even higher-nosed about the nature, purpose or value of art. Which makes the paint-by-numbers people among us yawn, the exception being the recent Broadway revival of “Sunday in the Park With George,” Stephen Sondheim’s thrilling synthesis of storytelling and multimedia innovation.
Taking a similar brushstroke is an affecting new love story by William C. Kovacsik, for three seasons an actor with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. Inventive in form, confident in execution and expertly performed, “Morisot Reclining” is an achievement for the Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company.
This playful little play tells of the unconsummated 1860s affair between French impressionist painters Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot, “the greatest romance ever recorded on canvas.”
Manet is the most admired painter of his age; Morisot his protege and muse. Unfairly undervalued as a painter because of her gender, Morisot sat for nearly a dozen Manet portraits in poses that reveal not how she looks but what he thinks he sees inside her. The most famous is “Morisot Reclining,” a masterpiece that proves unequivocally that a painting, even an impressionist one, can be an even more bold and blatant confession of love than the written word.
Everyone knew it: Manet’s wife. Manet’s brother — who also was Morisot’s husband. But propriety made acting on that passion unthinkable.
A tale like this needs a guide, and Kovacsik gives us two warm and inspired creations: fellow painters Mary Cassatt (Lindsey Pierce) and the wonderfully self-assured Edgar Degas (Matthew Mueller). Degas is dead, Cassatt points out. But, in true impressionist form, he explains, “I must either be back from the dead, or else being dead is no longer an impediment to my work.” The play is filled with that kind of genial banter.
But these two don’t just narrate. They each dip in and out of the action, taking on several support roles. One of the play’s masterstrokes is watching the surprising emotional toll the telling eventually takes on the both of them.
Anchoring Tina Anderson’s effective set is a huge, blank canvas, upon which real paintings are projected as they come up in the conversation. Without becoming academically burdensome, our narrators help us to understand how the spark between two people can find its way onto a canvas.
As Manet and Morisot, Stephen Weitz and Karen Slack create resonating portrayals of these kindred spirits, 10 years removed. While their relationship anchors the story, Kovacsik touches on a array of artistic issues, the most resounding being the universal struggle all of us wage with our own mediocrities.
A major undercurrent is the repression of women in 1860s Paris — the great irony being that while its painters championed the naked female form, (fully clothed) women were not allowed to paint alone in the park — the very routine that inspired Georges Seurat’s “Sunday in the Park” masterpiece.
Slack’s Morisot is driven not by the need for a man but rather to paint something meaningful. Imagine being in a city of endless inspiration but where women don’t have the freedom to go where they must to make the best art possible.
There are a few mild reservations with this initial staging. The script occasionally indulges in breathless self-importance (“You don’t paint because you want to, but because you need to!”). A late catfight is regrettable, and, as with a lot of plays, the ending needs work.
But it’s a fine play. One that leaves an impression.
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
“Morisot Reclining” ***1/2 (out of four stars)
Master Stroke. Presented by the Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company at the Dairy Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. Written by William C. Kovacsik. Directed by Rebecca Remaly. Through May 9. 2 hours, 20 minutes. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays; 4 p.m. Sundays. $10-$18. 888-512-7469 or . Note: Brief nudity.
Online bonus: Script sample
Read a 10-page script sample from “Morisot Reclining.”
This week’s video podcast:
Running Lines at … “52 Pick Up”
This week, Denver Post theater critic John Moore talks with actors Genna Wilcox and Sam Elmore on the set of “52 Pick Up,” now playing through May 16 at The Bindery Space. The actors also perform a randomly selected scene from the play. Run time: 10 minutes.
This weekend’s theater openings
“52 Pick-Up”
One couple’s relationship is told in 52 short scenes. But at the start, a deck of cards is tossed into the air — one for each scene. The actors pick up the cards one at a time, which determines the order of how the story will play out each night. Through May 16. Presented by Gemma Wilcox Productions at the Bindery Space, 770 22nd St., 800-838-3006 or
“Thoroughly Modern Millie”
High-spirited musical romp set in 1922 New York City, where Young Millie Dillmount has just moved to the city in search of a new life. Through May 17. StageDoor Theatre, 25797 Conifer Road, Conifer, 303-886-2819, 800-838-3006 or
“Seascape”
Edward Albee’s Pulitzer-winning play about an couple discussing their upcoming retirements on a beach, when another couple appears: two human- sized lizards named Leslie and Sarah, who speak and act like people. Through May 23. At the West Colfax Event Center, 9797 W. Colfax Ave., Lakewood, 303-232-0363 or
“When We Were Fab”
A Beatles tribute concert, the way audiences never got to see or hear the real Fab Four. Through May 24. New Denver Civic Theatre, 721 Santa Fe Drive, 303-309-3773 or and here’s
Complete theater listings
Go to our complete list of in Colorado, including summaries, run dates, addresses, phones and links to every company’s home page. Or check out our listings or
And introducing … The Running Lines blog
You can now find John Moore’s roundup of daily theater news and dialogue, including new season announcements from Germinal Stage-Denver and Performance Now; plus information on how local actors can audition for Curious Theatre’s 2009-10 season. blogs.denverpost.com/runninglines
