Bart Guingona and JC Santos to paint theatres “RED” on June 2023

Art and Design

Apr 28

Ten years after the play’s critically acclaimed Asian premier in the Philippines, Bart Guingona and JC Santos are back to re-stage “RED” at the PETA Theater Center on June 2023.

Written by Chesca Santiago
May 4, 2023

**Bart Guingona** and **JC Santos** unveil the official poster of ***RED*** during its media launch at La Collina Restaurant on April 28, 2023.

RED, produced by The Necessary Theatre and written by American playwright John Logan, spotlights the life of abstract expressionist Mark Rothko (Bart Guingona) at the height of his career. Told through the lens of Rothko’s spirited assistant, Ken (JC Santos), the play first graced Philippine theatres a decade ago on February 2013 and is back for a limited 10-show run from June 9 to 18 this year.

Questions as big as Rothko’s paintings

In RED, Rothko and Ken grapple with questions as big as the works they paint. Here we witness Rothko’s struggle with a series of large-scale commissioned paintings amid a creative process punctuated by artistic contemplations. As they paint, we watch Rothko in dialogue with Ken reflecting on the nature of art: what it takes to create it and its role in the world.

Set in the 1950s, the play is partly based on real events and features passages said by Rothko himself. Ultimately, RED is a multi-layered examination of artistic life—of the ever-changing relationship between an artist and his creations, and between a mentor and a mentee.

Play preview and question & answer session with Guingona and Santos during RED’s media launch.

The greatest intensity yet for RED

From producers to actors, the team behind the play is ready to take RED to an intensity that we are yet to see. The producers are gearing up for a much fuller production, envisioning a show that will bring the artist’s studio to life. For Guingona and Santos, in-depth research on their characters has long been underway, with Santos delving into the art history of this time touching on abstract expressionism, pop art, Jackson Pollock, and the like.

And it comes as no surprise that RED is aiming for such magnitude of scale, considering that apart from a commemoration of Rothko’s and Ken’s creative propensities, the play is also a celebration of sorts for both actors. RED marks Guingona’s 40th year in the industry and also Santos’s theater comeback after a three-year hiatus from the stage.

But why paint the theaters RED?

Yet amid all these significations attached to the play, Guingona and Santos insist that the essence of RED lies in the brilliance of Rothko’s philosophy, cleverly distilled by Logan in a single play. Guingona finds timelessness in the relevance of Rothko’s principles as he shares, “In an age when smart shaming is a thing, this guy [Rothko] wore his erudition like a badge of honor… We should start getting attracted to intellectual expansion rather than populism.”

But faithful to the subject of the play, Santos drives the core of RED back to the figure of the artist. In the end, Santos is determined to make RED “a reminder of how it is to be an artist again”, especially in this milieu of political, economic, and social challenges hindering the artistic community. Through the creative fierceness that blazes in the stages of RED, Santos hopes that it will similarly rekindle the fire of artistry—a testament to the enduring influence of Rothko more than half a century since his active years.