Wed 4/26-Sat 4/29 @ 7:30PM
Stu Pflaum, a theater student at Cuyahoga Community College, became interested in the relationship between two very famous New York artists, each in his own way out of synch with the mainstream: the legendary Andy Warhol and young street-inspired artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose notebooks were recently on display a the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Two such unique characters, as well as the flourishing hip hop and art scenes of 80s Manhattan, provided rich material for the play he’s written, Andy & Me, which will debut at Tri-C’s Western Campus this week. The artists, who were 30 years apart in age (although they died a year apart in 1987-88, Warhol at 58, Basquiat at 27), met in 1980 and had a mutually beneficial relationship until Warhol’s death.
Pflaum himself spent a decade working in the hip hop end of music industry, further fueling his interest in the subject matter. He’s fictionalized the character of Basquiat, drawing from real-life events as well as inventing ones.
“It was just the curiosity about Basquiat, as I learned more about him via my pop culture studies,” says Pflaum. “He seemed like the polar opposite of Warhol, but they completed each other in a lot of ways. I wanted to explore it further.”
The play will have four performances directed by local professional actor James Rankin. They are free.