Photos: Bart Guingona, JC Santos Shoot and Unveil RED's Show Image

Manila, Philippines--When The Necessary Theatre gathered the media to officially launch its 2023 production of John Logan’s Tony Award-winning play “Red,” its stars Bart Guingona and JC Santos, both raring to return on stage post-pandemic, they also unveiled the production’s official show image or poster. 

The two actors are looking upward: Guingona, the artist, and Santos, the mentee, and are shot from a bird’s eye view; both cast a long shadow across the page.

The show’s three-letter title are in bold letters—screaming R-E-D.

Its color motif, red on maroon, is strongly attributed to the play’s subject, the abstract expressionist Mark Rothko.

In the late 1950s, Rothko pioneered the color field painting of unbroken colors, which often produces a flat image, but exudes a strong emotion akin to “tragedy, ecstasy, or doom.”

“Red,” the play, gives the audience a rare insider’s look at Rothko told from the POV of his young assistant, Ken.

The New York Times describes the play as “an intense and exciting two-character bio-drama, capturing the dynamic relationship between an artist and his creations.”

“The fact that people break down and cry when confronted with my pictures shows that I can communicate those basic human emotions...the people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when painting them,” said Rothko.  

“And if you say you are moved only by their color relationships, then you miss the point.”

Guingona plays the complicated Rothko. Guingona is a multi-awarded actor best known for his portrayals in “Hamlet,” “Macbeth,” “The Crucible,” “The Maids,” and “Oedipus The King.”

As a stage director, he has directed plays for Actor’s Actors Inc., including “The Nerd,” “Les Parents Terribles,” “Taming of the Shrew,” and “Once on This Island.”

On the other hand, Dulaang UP alum JC Santos plays Ken. His theater credits include Zelim in “Orosman and Zafira,” Don Juan in “Adarna,” Abdallah in “Bilanggo ng Pag-ibig,” Jeryc Sans Reval in “Kung Paano Ako Naging Leading Lady,” Lam-Ang in “Lam-Ang,” and Roland in “Constellations.”

Both are also two of the most sought-after actors in TV and film. They currently star in ABS-CBN’s hit crime drama “Dirty Linen.”

Produced by the Necessary Theatre, “Red” runs for a limited 10 performances only at the PETA Theatre Center, in New Manila, Quezon City, for two weekends, June 9 to 11; June 16 to 18, 2023.

Photos: The Necessary Theatre, Kim Sancha

JC Santos, Bart Guingona

JC Santos, Bart Guingona