Art

Yasmina Reza uses relatively few theatrical brushstrokes in Art to illustrate the changeable qualities of art and friendship. In this full-length one-act, the two emerge as almost mirror images of each other. An appreciation of a painting may be strengthened by scrutiny of lines and shadings; friendships, in contrast, can be jeopardized by dwelling too much on specifics. There's a magic in each that deserves respect.

The production at Mosaic Theater near Fort Lauderdale works a magic of  its own. A top-notch cast under director Richard Jay Simon finds both the bright laughs with the darker tones in Reza's compact work. Costumes and sets have details that illuminate but don't intrude.

It's a story of three men 15 years into a friendship: Marc, an engineer, is dismayed that his friend Serge, has spent big money on a painting that seems nothing more than white. Serge, a dermatologist, bristles at Marc being so casually arrogant. Each seeks an ally in their friend Yvan, an underachieving stationery salesman about to marry his boss's daughter. Serge, played by Christian Rockwell, is dressed in black by Meredith Lasher.Mark (Paul Tei) wears khaki pants and has a nondescript landscape on the wall. Rockwell and Tei do well in playing the characters as they bounce between earnestness to callousness. Yvan (Heath Kelts) dwells amid earth tones. He is more grounded than his at-odds friends but is wound tight over his complicated marriage-career track. Reza gives the frazzled Yvan a big, funny speech, and Kelts doesn't disappoint. Neither does set designer Ian Almeida. Serge's largely black living room, with the white painting that comes and goes, is center stage. Almeida gives it chrome accents, the suggestion of a skylight and windows leading into partial stars whose lines disappear into the walls, toward the stage areas on either side devoted to Serge's friends Marc and Yvan. The lines seem destined to intersect at some point.