Inventing Van Gogh presented by Washington Stage Guild at Undercroft Theatre

Inventing Van Gogh

Undercroft Theatre
900 Massachusetts Ave. NW Washington

A time-twisting look at Van Gogh and his legacies, both real and fake, as a contemporary young painter is hired to forge a lost painting, but then must justify his decisions to Vincent himself. The area premiere of the popular American playwright Dietz's play.

Presented by Washington Stage Guild

Thru - Nov 24, 2013

Thursdays: 7:30pm

Fridays: 8:00pm

Saturdays: 2:30pm & 8:00pm

Sundays: 2:30pm

Price: $30-$40

Show Type: Comedy/Drama

Box Office: 240-582-0050

Running Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes with 1 intermission

www.stageguild.org/

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Inventing Van Gogh Reviews

Average Rating based on 4 reviews

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Somewhat Recommended
Not Recommended

DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended

"...Steven Dietz has the dubious distinction of being one of the nation's most performed but least known playwrights. With its earnest production of Dietz's searing, cerebral and enigmatic (and, some might say, problematic) Inventing Van Gogh, the Washington Stage Guild will probably do little to change that equation; there were but a baker's dozen in the audience Saturday afternoon, few of whom probably left the theater thinking, "Yup. I know just how he/she/they felt." That said, for anyone with an appetite for academic prolixity, armchair psychology and speed-dial art history-and an interest in the ways in which the links between art, fame, and commerce can strangle as often as they bond; and those that bind love, passion, and sex can do the same-this is certainly a play worth seeing."

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- Leslie Weisman

Washington City Paper - Recommended

"...Later, Carpenter's restraint falters in an overwrought climax that finds Van Gogh and Miller on their knees at opposite ends of the stage. Both men have their shirts open, and Jessica Shearer, who plays both Van Gogh's lover and Miller's daughter (who is also Stone's friend with benefits), is posed behind a scrim in silhouette. Then Tumulty and Redmond rise to smear paint, or maybe it's supposed to be blood, on each other's bare chests. It's more risible than it is haunting."

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- Chris Klimek

MD Theatre Guide - Recommended

"...Simple but detailed costumes and distinctive styling help immensely in taking the audience back and forth from the 1880s to the early 2000s on a set that consists of barely more than two canvasses of light and an artist's easel. And while the play ends without resolution to the questions it raises-that would be a tall order-director Steven Carpenter and his cast and crew have created for artists and others a space of their own to contemplate them; not to mention that bringing Van Gogh to life as more than just the hand behind his famous canvasses is a treat for art lovers in itself."

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- J.D. Star

DCTheatreScene - Recommended

A miserable and lonely artist is invited to paint a Van Gogh forgery. He initially spurns the offer, but when he later contemplates going along with the scheme he finds his reality blended with the world of Van Gogh, Gauguin, and other historical characters. That is the intriguing setup for Steven Dietz’s Inventing Van Gogh, a platform for addressing Van Gogh’s life, the meaning of art, and incidentally moving along both historical and modern detective stories.

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- Steven McKnight

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Inventing Van Gogh presented by Washington Stage Guild at Undercroft Theatre