Ten Unknowns

Ten Unknowns, by Jon Robin Baitz, is an incisive comedy, which explores the relationship between art and commerce, trend and talent. In the play, painter Malcolm Raphelson – one of the celebrated “Ten Unknowns of 1949” – faded into obscurity after turning his back on the world of commercial art. For nearly thirty years he has lived in a remote Mexican village, drinking and occasionally painting. But suddenly Malcolm’s style comes back in fashion and an ambitious art dealer, Trevor Fabricant, is already setting up a comeback exhibition for works not yet painted. He provides Malcolm with a skillful assistant, Judd Sturgess, who sparks the output of many bold paintings. But with the unexpected arrival of Julia Bryant, a biology grad student from Berkeley who has traveled to Mexico to study the disappearance of a rare frog species, Malcolm finds a muse, throwing off a carefully crafted balance, which leads to the play’s explosive but hopeful conclusion.

There are four Sunday evening performances on February 15, 22, 29 and March 7 at 7:30 p.m..