But Is It?

Though there have been a few remarkable exceptions in recent years -- An Inspector Callsand Angels in America among them -- Broadway tours of nonmusical plays rarely visit the Valley. After a season of Fames and Footlooses, the chance to see three actors talking, just talking their way through Yasmina Reza's ART, should be a refreshing treat.

The play, translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by Matthew Warchus, was a hit in London in 1996 and on Broadway, where it won the Tony for Best Play in 1998. It involves a dispute over aesthetics that escalates into a clash of personalities.

Art lover Serge has splurged on an objetwhich, his friend Marc breaks it to him, is just a blank white canvas. When a quarrel breaks out, a third friend, Yvan, tries to play the role of peacemaker and makes things worse.

Marc is played by Judd Hirsch of Taxiand Ordinary People.Cotter Smith of TV's Equal Justice,among many other credits, plays Serge. Jack Willis, who plays the hapless Yvan, is a veteran of David Mamet's The Old Neighborhoodon Broadway.

ART is performed at 8 p.m. Tuesday, November 9; the same time Wednesday, November 10; Thursday, November 11; and Friday, November 12; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, November 13; and 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday, November 14, at Gammage Auditorium, Mill and Apache in Tempe. Tickets range from $17 to $39.50. The Saturday matinee is ASLsigned. For details call 480-965-3434 (Gammage), or 480-503-5555 (Dillard's).