Ten Unknowns

by Jon Robin Baitz

Ten Unknowns, John Robin Baitz's latest work, is an explosive drama about art -- and what happens when it becomes commerce. Malcolm Raphelson is a painter who was at the top of the art world -- until the critical vogue turned from realism to abstract expressionist work. He has been in self-imposed exile in Mexico for decades, until dealer Trevor Fabricant decides it's time for a retrospective. Trevor sends Judd, a talented and tormented young painter, to serve as Malcolm's assistant and unofficial minder. When they are joined by a beautiful young student, their tense equilibrium is upset. With seemingly spontaneous dialogue and a world portrayed with its many conflicts, Ten Unknowns is an important contemporary work about modern America, bringing into question its morals and sensibilities.

Genres: Plays, Drama

72 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Robbie Baitz was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Edward Baitz, an executive of the Carnation Company. Baitz was raised in Brazil and South Africa before the family returned to California, where he attended Beverly Hills High School.[1] After graduation, he worked as a bookstore clerk and assistant to two producers, and the experiences became the basis for his first play, a one-acter entitled Mizlansky/Zilinsky. He drew on his own background for his first two-act play, The Film Society, about the staff of a prep school in South Africa. Its 1987 success in L.A. led to an off-Broadway production with Nathan Lane the following year, which earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding New Play. This was followed by The End of the Day starring Roger Rees, and The Substance of Fire with Ron Rifkin and Sarah Jessica Parker.
In 1991, Baitz wrote and directed the two-character play Three Hotels, based on his parents, for a presentation of PBS's "American Playhouse", then reworked the material for the stage, earning another Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding New Play for his efforts. In 1993, he co-scripted (with Howard A. Rodman) The Frightening Frammis, which was directed by Tom Cruise and aired as an episode of the Showtime anthology series Fallen Angels. Two years later, Henry Jaglom cast him as a gay playwright who achieves success at an early age - a character inspired by Baitz himself - in the film Last Summer in the Hamptons; the following year he appeared as Michelle Pfeiffer's business associate in the screen comedy One Fine Day. In 1996, he was one of the three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for his semi-autobiographical play A Fair Country.
Subsequent stage works include Mizlansky/Zilinsky or "Schmucks", a revised version of Mizlansky/Zilinsky directed by Baitz's then-partner Joe Mantello (1998), a new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler (first at L.A.'s Geffen Playhouse with Annette Bening in 1999, then at Long Island's Bay Street Theater with Kate Burton in 2000, followed by a Broadway production with the same star the following year), Ten Unknowns (2001), starring Donald Sutherland and Juliana Margulies, and The Paris Letter (2005) with Ron Rifkin and John Glover. His screenplays include the adaptation of his own Substance of Fire (1996), with Tony Goldwyn and Timothy Hutton joining original cast members Rifkin and Parker, and People I Know (2003), which starred Al Pacino.
Baitz's occasional work writing for such television series as The West Wing and Alias led to his position as creator and executive producer of the ABC TV drama Brothers & Sisters, which premiered in September 2006 and ran for five seasons, ending in May 2011.
Baitz was the New School for Drama's artist in residence for the 2009-2010 school year.[2]
His play Other Desert Cities opened Off-Broadway at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (Lincoln Center) in New York on January 13, 2011, starring Stockard Channing, Linda Lavin, Stacy Keach, Thomas Sadoski and Elizabeth Marvel. [3] The play was originally titled Love and Mercy.[4]. The production transferred to Broadway, opening at the Booth Theatre on November 3, 2011, with Judith Light replacing Lavin and Rachel Griffiths replacing Marvel.

Reviews

[Davin Broadhurst · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much better than the substance of fire in my opinion, better characters and more fun dialogue. Again, reading it because I love a monologue in here—but there are also great monologues from Julia for young women.

[Sapna Kumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

A scathing look at a narcissistic artist...

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

An accomplished modernist painter faces the nature of artistry in the postmodernist era. His young assistant questions why he is attracted to this "master" at all, given that the "master" has ceased to produce and is not teaching him anything. A young girl arrives and divides their attention, she is not so much an object of beauty as she is a question mark as to why they are trying to be artists in the first place. An offensive agent has brought them all together in an effort to manipulate a new showing from the old "master." This four person play is a wonderful journey into the nature of beauty, making the reader want to see it in person.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look into the relationship between art and ownership. It reminds me of the essay "On the Rights of Molotov Man," by Joy Garnett and Susan Meiselas, but it's, obviously, fiction. It's a good read for a rainy day.