‘The Collaboration’ Explores The Power Of Disparate Artists Finding Common Ground

The moment that Kwame Kwei-Armah began reading Anthony McCarten’s play, the Collaboration, he was enthralled from the get-go. At the time the director, actor, playwright and artistic director of the Young Vic theater was in a taxi.

“The script was sent to me by Eleanor Lloyd, a brilliant producer in London, who said, ‘just read it and let me know what you think,” says Kwei-Armah. “I thought, let me start reading it now.”

Kwei-Armah was so captivated by McCarten’s play about Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat joining forces to create a series of paintings together, he didn’t want to put the play down, even when exiting the taxi. “I was an hour late to my destination because I couldn't stop reading,” says Kwei-Armah.

A playwright, filmmaker and novelist whose vast credits include The Theory of Everything, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Two Popes, I Wanna Dance with Somebody and A Beautiful Noise, McCarten was inspired to write The Collaboration after he saw separate Basquiat and Warhol exhibits in the same day.

“They were so different in their approach and what they seemed to be saying that art should be and do,” says McCarten. “When I learned that they had worked together and collaborated for two-and-a-half years, I thought, what would have transpired in those rooms and how could you marry these two very different philosophies?”

Originally produced by the Young Vic Theatre London, The Collaboration is currently playing on Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre as part of the Manhattan Theatre Club’s 50th season. With Jeremy Pope playing Jean-Michel Basquiat and Paul Bettany as Andy Warhol, the illuminating play sheds light on these fascinating artists—their work, pain, passion, their messy and disparate connection. “I hope people come away feeling that it was a worthy partnership seeing these two dance together,” says Kwei-Armah who directed the play and its subsequent film.

Jeremy Pope sees the Collaboration as a unique window into these two artists. “It’s an excavation,” says Pope. “It’s not just about the art or what you can Google. It's about the heart and the soul of these individuals.” The rest of the dream cast includes Erik Jensen who plays art dealer Bruno Bischofberger and Krysta Rodriguez who is Maya, Basquiat’s former lover “and a very modern woman, even by today's standards. Not to mention the standards of 1983 and 1984, when this play takes place,” says Rodriguez.

Bettany found the characters deeply compelling and fascinating. “Warhol and Basquiat are two artists who seemingly have nothing in common. There is an uncomfortable conversation going on the canvases between a conceptual artist and a neo-expressionist,” he says. “It feels urgent when you look at those paintings and also makes the drama interesting. They are two men with seemingly nothing in common who find common ground.”

Also, the play delves into the idea of letting ourselves live with our flaws. Particularly with respect to Basquiat and his art. “There wasn't this obsession with perfectionism. I believe that allowed him to explore his imperfections as a human” says Pope. “It's so important that we do that and know who we are is enough in our complexities. When you embrace that, you can begin to feel free.” Pope added that he strives to implement that in his own life. “I hope to be a little softer and gentle with myself as an artist,” he says.

The Collaboration is part of a trilogy of three plays that McCarten calls the Worship Trilogy and delves into the worship of money, (Wednesday at Warren's, Friday at Bill’s), art, (the Collaboration) and religion (the Two Popes).

As McCarten explains the plays feed into the concept of finding synthesis. “No matter how far opposed you are on something, there is a common ground. And that common ground is a very rich one that the human race has to occupy,” says McCarten. “If you are rigid in your thinking and only adhere to your own preconceptions, you are only in conversation with yourself. But when you open yourself to the possibility that you may be wrong, then you are in conversation with the human race.”

Krysta Rodriguez offered more insight.

Jeryl Brunner: The Collaboration is part of a trilogy of plays called worship plays or collaborations which delves into connections between individuals who are at such different parts of their lives. Why do you think it’s important to explore that?

Krysta Rodriguez: Now more than ever collaboration is something we need to be investing in, learning how to work with people with different views and different ways to approach things. These two artists were very similar in their intent, but they also lived in different eras with different parameters.

It's very reminiscent to baby boomers, gen z and millennials. Everyone thinks the next generation is sort of ruining it for everybody else. But you have to trust the next generation to take up the mantle and move the line a little forward. I believe it's really important to watch these two people in the context of art. We're also seeing a larger scale how people can take each other's differences, make them assets and fall in love. Because they really do fall in love.

Brunner: Is Maya an actual person?

Rodriguez: She is an amalgamation of multiple women who were involved with Basquiat. One of his partners wrote a book called Widow Basquiat which has been really informative. It’s beautiful to read and look into their private moments.

We get to see the private moments between Basquiat and Warhol that we have never seen. But in the play, we don't get to see Maya and Basquiat's real tender relationship. We see the dissolution and the end of their relationship. It has been really fun to explore the parts that are more tender and kind between the two of them.

Brunner: You play such eclectic roles. Before the Collaboration, you were Cinderella in Into The Woods. Is there something you seek when taking on a role?

Rodriguez: I really look at what the character is doing with the choices she is able to make. I consider the parameters of the time she is in. Throughout time, female characters have different agency. They have different abilities to make different choices. And as long as I feel that they are making interesting or complicated choices within whatever time they're in, I'm drawn to that.

I am no longer attracted to roles where the men are doing all of the complex thinking. I want to get my hands dirty as well. In Into The Woods Cinderella makes the biggest arc in the show. She really is struggling with how to make decisions within the parameters she is given. She has no social status, no family and no ability to make decisions. And within that, she learns how to stand her ground and become the woman she wants to be. I've learned a lot from her. Now I’m seeing what I can learn from Maya.