'Red' Paints Picture of 'Complex' Artist

London-born Jack Cutmore-Scott has been dubbed the next Matt Damon by director Eric C. Engle. Engle directed "Entertaining Mr. Sloane" last year, Cuttmore-Scott's U.S. professional debut, and was impressed by his talent.

Jack Cutmore-Scott plays Rothko's assistant, Ken,
in Red.

Although he does not take this compliment seriously, Cutmore-Scott is excited to be playing Ken, one of two lead roles in the Pittsburgh premiere of Red under the Pittsburgh Public Theater.

"It's a very human story," Cutmore-Scott said of the play's plot outside the rehearsal room of the O'Reilly Theater on Friday.

 Red will run from Nov. 10 through Dec. 11 and is written by John Logan and directed by Pamela Berlin.

The play is about artist Mark Rothko at the height of his career in 1958. Rothko is commissioned to paint murals for Four Seasons, a new restaurant opening in New York, according to Cutmore-Scott. Rothko hires an assistant, Ken, to help with the murals.

Cutmore-Scott said the play describes the way the relationship between Rothko and Ken develops and how their artwork is affected. Rothko, as described by Jeff Still, the actor portraying him, was "serious, driven, complex [and] lonely." He also had very specific opinions of art, considering a lot was going on in the art scene during this time.

"[It's about] what two people can learn from each other, help each other grow," Still said outside the rehearsal room of the O'Reilly Theater on Friday.

Ken is much younger than Rothko, and, as a result, Cutmore-Scott said, by the end of the play Rothko becomes a father-figure, teacher and friend to Ken. He had a tough childhood and eventually becomes resilient due to the circumstances. Ken grows a lot during the play; he's still trying to figure out who he is. He is also determined and driven, and still trying to develop his own opinions of art which are inspired by Rothko.

Cutmore-Scott began acting in high school in his native London. He then attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) for a year and graduated from Harvard University in 2010.

While at Harvard, he studied English literature, but also participated in plays and theater on the side.

"It was great to get to do everything on the side," Cutmore-Scott said. "It's not about grades, but about doing what you're passionate about."
Cutmore-Scott moved to New York in February where he continued to do some acting and auditioned for Red. He auditioned for Berlin and had three rounds of auditions where he worked on different scenes.

"[They were] good scenes. Meaty, and fun, challenging," Cutmore-Scott said.

He described the auditions as a preview of what rehearsals would be like, because Berlin gave him direction, insight and made him feel very comfortable.

To prepare for the role, Cutmore-Scott spent time thinking about interesting choices about Ken's life outside the studio. Cutmore-Scott describes him as a "blank canvas."

Still also got into acting later in life, when he was twenty. "It's a long story…kind of an accident, really," Still said.

He went to an open house of a college he was not currently attending and spoke with someone from the theater department.

"I thought, ‘I'm going to give this a try," Still said.

Jeff Still plays artist Mark Rothko in the
Pittsburgh Public Theater's production of Red.

Then he immediately fell in love with theater. After that, he graduated from Southeastern Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor's of Arts in theater, and then toured for a year in New York. Still then went to graduate school at DePaul University in Chicago where he received his Master's of Fine Arts in acting.

Still also auditioned for Red in New York and chose the Pittsburgh production because he had been here before and really liked the city. For his audition, he had to read some lines for Berlin. He wanted to participate in the production of Red because he read the play when his agent sent him a copy.

"As soon as I read it, I knew I wanted to play the part [of Rothko]," Still said.

Now he is thrilled to be fulfilling that dream and did plenty to prepare for the role. Still said he read a lot about Rothko, studied his work at museums, watched biographies on him, and even read up on some of the other artists mentioned in the play.

"The dictionary was my friend," Still said. "Rothko is very articulate, with a large vocabulary. [He uses] words we simply don't use."

The costume manager of the Pittsburgh Public Theater, Kate Mitchell, is also the costume designer for Red. Although this is a period show with somewhat modern costumes, Mitchell wanted to represent the period realistically.

This is the first show she has designed costumes for since her move to Pittsburgh two years ago. When she began designing the costumes for Red, she read the play twice and then talked with Berlin to get an idea of what she pictured for the outfits.

"I looked for who was wearing what, what's going on in their lives," Mitchell said in the costume shop of the O'Reilly Theater Oct. 28.

Mitchell also had a lot to consider when it came to colors. Since a lot of the color red is used in the paintings, she did not use any red in the costume design.

"I don't want the actors to blend into the scenery," Mitchell said.

Another interesting aspect of the costumes is the actors get paint on their clothes during the scene, so they had to have multiples of the same outfits. They also could not rent costumes for this show, which they usually do from schools like Point Park University, University of Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Mellon University.

While Still thinks, "it's deadly to expect anything [from the audience]," he hopes people will come and get involved with the story. He also wishes the audience will come away with a better understanding of how the story relates to their own lives.

Student tickets, with valid ID, are just $15.75. To buy tickets, and for more information, call 412-316-1600 or visit www.ppt.org.