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Andy Warhol and Truman Capote were famously friends: The artist depicted the writer in his work several times, and the pair spent hundreds of hours in conversation (some of it published). Now pieces of those conversations will be adapted into “Warhol Capote,” a new play opening this September at the American Repertory Theater.

[WARHOLCAPOTE has] observations in Mr. Roth’s script, largely culled from 80 hours of recorded conversations between its two characters (who both died in the 1980s), are so presciently on-target they leave you reeling.

An ingenious, captivating world premiere at American Repertory Theater.

Roth spent 10 years sewing together a narrative from hours and hours of tapes, and his play, while quite funny at times, is a meditation on the toll it takes to be a celebrity artist. 

Skillfully guided by Broadway director Michael Mayer (“Spring Awakening,” “American Idiot”), these are tour de force performances for both actors – in re-creating such well-known figures of their time and in making their relationship and thoughts seem believable and valid.

Under Michael Mayer’s direction and starring Stephen Spinella as the Pop artist and Dan Butler as the author-raconteur, the show certainly deserves to be famous far longer than Warhol’s proclaimed 15 minutes.

It’s mainly a chance for fans of Warhol and Capote to travel past the velvet rope and get a sense of the men as chummy co-conspirators. As fly-on-the-wall perches go, it’s a good one.

That play was never written, but Mr. Roth has artfully assembled the actual words shared between Capote and Warhol, and formed them into five imagined conversations that make up the structure of this play. The result is a fascinating and illuminating psychological study of these two idiosyncratic geniuses.

Though the striking Scenic Design by Stanley A. Meyer and pertinent Costume Design by Clint Ramos add some context, the work’s success rests squarely on the shoulders of the two actors.

Dan Butler got the call on a Wednesday. By Sunday, with only a few days to rehearse, he was onstage playing Truman Capote in the first performance of a world premiere, “WARHOLCAPOTE,” at American Repertory Theater.

With WARHOLCAPOTE, an unprecedented look at Warhol’s Marilyn portfolio, plus a series of fascinating post-production conversations.

Adaptor Rob Roth stops by to discuss “WARHOLCAPOTE,” a new play he’s adapted for the American Repertory Theater.