←Recommendations of /ärt/

A delightfully absurd satire that nails pretentious art world gatekeeping through a hilariously inappropriate lens of competitive third-grade crayon drawings. The escalating battle between two egotistical judges builds to a perfectly touching conclusion that celebrates creativity, friendship, and the pure joy of making art free from competitive judgment.

Steven G Martin has such a beautiful voice and style for showing how much adults can and should learn from children. I love this show! Packed with humor and great opportunity for over the top but true to life character acting and a chance to win over an audience with kids.

What a delightful show! Steven G. Martin’s /ärt/ hilariously reveals what happens when adults act like children as they judge a children’s art show. Full of fun characters for actors to sink their teeth into. An all female cast, including two young artists who steal the show and leave the audience smiling! This is a wonderful show for any festival.

Our audiences and middle school cast loved this show! Great roles for girls, filled with humor and passionate characters that were relatable and joyous to watch. Highly recommend!

I absolutely love this play. So much joy, humor, and passion that speaks to the frustrations of the creative life in a brilliant format – judging the art of 3rd graders!! Brilliant. I would both love to direct and see this play. Great, well-drawn roles for actors to run wild with in a play with lots of escalating fun and humor. The ending, which I didn’t see coming, is the perfect cure to what ails artists of any discipline. Heartwarming perfection.

Martin's ten-minute play hilariously (and so aptly!) skewers the evaluation of art by those who believe they know what's "good" and what isn't. With fun roles for female actors and great for all ages, this would be a hit in any short-play festival.

I'm very late to the party for giving this play the appreciation it so richly deserves. Full of wonderful skewering satire on the pretensions of art gatekeepers. The hilarity hits a whole other level when the two finalists enter. Ripe roles for actors to go broad with their comedic chops and kill the room (as occurred at the production I saw).

Mr. Martin clearly thinks he's being O, So Clever in this absurdist expose of the pretentiousness of evaluating the inherently subjective intrinsic value of art, yet he has hoisted himself on his own petard by creating this piece of art, this play, that is objectively perfect. The rhythms carry the words in perfect syncopation, the characters are perfectly drawn and individuated, the thesis and the treatise are perfectly executed in a perfect series of perfectly structured perfect setups perfectly igniting perfect payoffs. It's all perfect, perfect, perfect. So much for art being subjective! Better luck next time, Martin!

Having just had the pleasure to read this play aloud with Steve over Zoom, I can say without hyperbole, that this is one of the most hilarious short plays I’ve encountered. It is both farcical and cutting, unabashed in its characterizations and utterly satisfying. I loved every minute of /ÄRT/ and you will too.

I was on board with this play about art competition judges from the line, "I have stigmata on my eyes, I just know it." This short comedy about the subjectivity of art and the standards to which we ourselves feel we are constantly being held and judged for is delightful! The dialogue is hilarious and I loved the reveal of what kind of art competition this was. This is a smart, funny way to spend ten minutes.