***** I am sure that Remy Bumppo would love to have a larger venue for their productions. I know that based on what I witnessed tonight, as nice as Theater Wit is, its 99 seats limit the number of audience members who would love to see their amazing production of Yasmina Reza’s “Art”. If you are one to block out the craziness in the world and escape for  about 90 minutes, there is nothing like this solid production that deals with “friendship”.

The story deals with three good freinds. Each has a life of their own and in many cases they are unlikely freinds, as they are different as night and day and everything in-between. BUT, in spite of their different lives, they are close with each other until Serge ( played to perfection by Chad Bay) buys an expensive piece of art work. This work of art, by a famous artist, purchased at 200,000 ( I must tell you that the script says francs ,but the performers do say grand, so it might be a bit confusing here) that is white with white lines on the diagonal. Marc ( deftly handled by Justin Albinder) , caught off-guard when seeing this work of art (?) questions his friend’s sanity and the fun begins.

In this one act play sharply directed by Marti Lyons on a simple set designed by Lauren M. Nichols, the actual painting goes on and off when in the apartment of Serge. There is one scene when we are at the third friend’s place. He is Yvan ( the very emotional and quite funny Eduardo Curley). Yvan has his own situation involving his upcoming nuptials and the situation with the in-laws where stepparents are concerned along with natural, but divorced parents.

Each of these three men see the work of art (?) from a different angle and in a different way. The dialogue is quite funny, and not wanting to divulge too much so as to not give away the cleverness of the script ( translated by Christopher Hampton), I will tell you that you will easily forget anything that had bothered you prior to entering Theater Wit. You will be laughing, and as the story progresses, even more. This is an 88 minute ( no intermission) story that will take your cares away as you witness three buddies , who are different in many ways, come to terms with the friendship that has bound them for years. They will be besties, then dislike sets in, and then close to hate, before it turns around and goes back to buddies and then a sort of love to  end the show.

The technical aspects of the play are all perfect. The costumes ( Kristy Leigh Hall ) are fitting for each character and the lighting (Liz Gomez) and sound (Matthew Chapman) are sheer perfection. Amanda Herrmann’s props work well and the fight choreography by Jerry Galante works. I guess the only true negative one can say about this production is the “grand” versus francs and that the chairs in Theater Wits Theater 2 are quite uncomfortable for over 60 minutes. ( I suggest you bring a cushion to ease the situation). This is one not to be missed!

” ART” will continue Thru – Jun 1st with performances as follows: