Buffalo Theatre's 'Andy Warhol's Tomato' a moving glimpse of artists connecting

“Andy Warhol's Tomato” - ★ ★ ★ ½

There's nothing flashy about “Andy Warhol's Tomato,” Vince Melocchi's fictionalized account of the pop art master before he became famous.

But there is something special about Buffalo Theatre Ensemble's revival of the gentle two-hander about dissimilar men recognizing and encouraging artistry in each other. Much of it has to do with the nuanced performances by longtime BTE ensemble member Bryan Burke and newcomer Alexander Wisniewski, a College of DuPage student, in director Steve Scott's introspective, nicely attuned production.

The action unfolds in the summer of 1946 in the basement storeroom of a blue-collar, suburban Pittsburgh bar owned by Mario “Bones” Bonino (Burke). As the play opens, middle-aged Bones is tending to 18-year-old Andy Warhol (Wisniewski), an art student with failing grades who fainted outside the bar and is recovering in Bones' storeroom.

After Andy accidentally breaks a treasured frame containing a photograph of Bones' father, Bones proposes the budding artist paint a sign for the bar as compensation. Over the ensuing weeks, a kind of friendship develops between the fey, fragile Andy and the gruff Bones, an aspiring writer with a knack for crafting catchy slogans.

More unites them than a shared desire to create. Both were born working-class. Both are reluctant to share their work. Bones tucks his writing away alongside his typewriter. Andy clutches his sketchbook to his chest like a lifeline.

But Andy is fearless. Secure in his talent, he is convinced that fame awaits. Bones is fearful. Worried his blue-collar patrons would mock him for his artistic pursuits, he writes in secret in his storeroom sanctuary (Jack Magaw designed the cluttered, realistic-looking set).

Bones finds beauty in the mundane. A tomato is art, he says. It sustains life. It's God's gift.

“It's God's gift to us,” he says.

Moreover, says Bones, it's attention to detail that makes great art.

“People like to know what's what,” he says.

Andy disagrees.

“Details allow the audience to be passive,” says the artist who wants observers to engage with his work.

“If my work makes people think? ... That's fabulous. That means they're alive, feeling something.”

That exchange is emblematic of “Andy Warhol's Tomato,” a quiet play that addresses weighty issues (Andy's sexuality included) in subtle ways and in plain-spoken terms.

Scott treads lightly. While subdued, his direction is assured and hits all the right emotional notes.

The production marks the professional debut of Wisniewski as the wry, delicate yet fiercely determined artist. Wisniewski's deliciously elusive performance suggests Andy's self-confidence and his self-consciousness. Fittingly, his performance is cool to the touch, which ideally balances Burke's more demonstrative turn as the compassionate, everyman Bones.

Andy may be the titular character, but the heart and soul of the play is Bones, an unfailingly decent man and an artist afraid to pursue his dreams.

Outstanding in previous BTE productions (“Clybourne Park,” “Good People” and “Faith Healer” immediately come to mind) Burke is at the top of his game. His expression, his slight but telling mannerisms (note the hitching of his pants) reveal more about the character's emotional turmoil, doubt and insecurity than any dialogue. Complex, carefully shaded and entirely convincing, it is a memorable performance.

No flash, all substance and exactly what we expect from the Buffalo Theatre Ensemble.

Location: Buffalo Theatre Ensemble at McAninch Arts Center, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn, (630) 942-4000, atthemac.org, btechicago.com

Showtimes: 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday, through March 5

Tickets: $42

Running time: About 90 minutes, no intermission

Parking: In the lot

Rating: For teens and older, some mature subject matter

COVID-19 precautions: Masks optional

Editors note: Tickets are on sale for The Cleve Carney Museum of Art exhibition “Andy Warhol Portfolios: A Life in Pop/Works from the Bank of America Collection,” which opens June 3 at the McAninch Arts Center, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn. theccma.org/warhol or (630) 942-4000.