What happens when one friend does something completely unexpected?

Are you who you think you are or have you become who your friends think you are?

These questions are answered in the comedic one-hour play Art, which will be performed by No Refund Theatre this weekend.

Serge -- played by Jason Cassidy (senior-theatre) -- buys a white painting for 200,000 francs, and his friends begin to question who he is becoming. They wonder if he bought the painting because he liked it, or if it was because society says people of his social standing should have artwork.

The painting is white, with white brush strokes.

Serge's friends Marc, played by Robert Pugh (senior-marketing and international business), and Yvan, played by Randolph Pfaff (senior-psychology), set the stage for a comedic look into the light and dark sides of the abstract painting of friendship.

Marc hates the painting and cannot believe that a friend of his would want this piece of artwork. After all, the whole painting is white, and he cannot understand why Serge would spend so much money on something so trivial.

"It's a good show about how real people deal with real relationships," Pfaff said. He said the characters just think they should have a friendship, and they don't think about what the friendship means.

Pfaff's character portrays both sides of the story. When with Serge, he agrees that the painting was a great purchase and pretends to see the "wonderful" elements that his friend sees in his new purchase. When he is with Marc, he articulates his dislike for the painting.

Yvan's attempts are unsuccessful, and in the end both of his friends see that he has been agreeing with both.

"It's about the dangers of hiding your emotions behind intellectualism," Cassidy said.

Pfaff agreed.

"It's also about trying to do things and trying to live the way you think you should," he said.

Director Jeremy Owens (senior-physics) said it is about friendship a lot of the time.

When we break apart friendships or relationships of any kind, nothing "beautiful" or "wonderful" is born out of it.

The play will be presented at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday in 111 Forum.