On three Saturday afternoons this winter, the Farnsworth and Everyman Repertory Theatre are teaming up to present Art on Stage: Everyman Rep at the Farnsworth, a series of dramatic readings of unique and entertaining arts-themed plays in the Farnsworth auditorium.
On Saturday, January 14, 1 p.m., local actors will perform Bakersfield Mist. Maude, a fifty-something unemployed bartender living in a trailer park, has bought a painting for a few bucks from a thrift store. Despite almost trashing it, she’s now convinced it’s a lost masterpiece by Jackson Pollock worth millions. But when world-class art expert Lionel Percy flies over from New York and arrives at her trailer home in Bakersfield to authenticate the painting, he has no idea what he is about to discover. Inspired by true events, this hilarious and thought-provoking new comedy-drama asks vital questions about what makes art and people truly authentic.
Bakersfield Mist enjoyed a 3-month run on London’s West End starring Kathleen Turner and Ian McDiarmid and is now being produced in regional theatres across the country and translated into other languages and performed worldwide. It was the 2012 Elliot Norton Award, Best New Play.
Playwright Stephen Sachs is the co-founder and Artistic Director of the Fountain Theatre, Los Angeles. He graduated from Los Angeles City College Theatre Academy and worked as an actor at many theaters in L.A., making his debut as a professional stage director with an adaptation of The Baron in the Trees. Sachs has won many awards and is the only director in L.A. to have won the Ovation Award (L.A.’s version of the Tony Award) for Best Director of a Play twice.