The play unfolds in the studio of painter Mark Rothko in the late 1950s, as he works on the commission of his life: a series of large paintings for the walls of a luxurious New York restaurant. Called to hang his work above the tables of the wealthy who will eat indifferent to it, Rothko faces a dilemma: refuse and stay true to his principles, or accept and compromise with a world he disdains? Beside him works Ken, a young painter learning the craft from him who, despite admiring him boundlessly, has begun to question him.
By John Logan
The play unfolds in the studio of painter Mark Rothko in the late 1950s, as he works on the commission of his life: a series of large paintings for the walls of a luxurious New York restaurant. Called to hang his work above the tables of the wealthy who will eat indifferent to it, Rothko faces a dilemma: refuse and stay true to his principles, or accept and compromise with a world he disdains? Beside him works Ken, a young painter learning the craft from him who, despite admiring him boundlessly, has begun to question him.