Monday, February 6, 2012

Interviewing the cast of "Red"

originally posted by John Bathke, for News 12 NJ

I’m seeing a lot of red this week. Red as in the color of so many of Mark Rothko’s paintings that I have been looking at and “Red” as in the play about Rothko that is now running at George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Tonight I interviewed both cast members, Bob Ari who plays Rothko and Randy Harrison who plays Ken, an assistant hired by Rothko to help him as he paints the Seagrams murals, one of the abstract expressionist’s famous commissions.

I’m expecting the segment we put together will be ready to roll next weekend for the next ON THE SCENE, but since we just shot tonight I’ll have to let you know for sure next week.

“Red” debuted on Broadway in 2010 starring Alfred Molina and Eddie Redmayne, who won a Tony Award for his performance. It’s an intense, complex drama about the creation of an artist, about an established albeit tortured artist mentoring an emerging talent.
A lot of viewers remember Randy Harrison for his role as “Justin” on “Queer As Folk.” We also talked about the series and that part of our conversation will be a web bonus feature for ON THE SCENE viewers.