Friday, Jun 13, 2025 at 5:30pm
The Paintings Of Lov-Ve
Dramatic Theatre - MAATOLOGY PRODUCTIONS - Ages 18+ - 1hr
The Paintings of Lov-ve (formerly “3 Way Lovve”) is a modernized Shakespearean tragedy with its lead character, William “Willie” Kenwood aka Lovvespear, aka Keepon a talented street painter who is discovered by a narcissistic art tycoon, Guy Kenwood, who adopts him as a teen and molds him into a famous graphic artist as well as his secret paramour.
Throughout his artistic journey, Willie develops a relationship with his female muse, Robyn Masters, who helps him early on in his career by giving him solace to paint at her Mafia family ran coffeeshop where she manages. Willie also meets and marries his college professor, Shareen McKinney, whose age differences (she’s 10 years his junior) and challenges of child bearing become the thrust of their relationship woes.
Told from a flash forward perspectives with flashbacks to the present, Paintings of Lov-ve is loosely based on the life of the late, renowned painter, Jean Basquiat and his relationships with a then unknown singer, Madonna and his mentorship with pop art icon Andy Warhol.
The Paintings of Lov-ve has been a labor of love for its writer and director, Ma’at Atkins ever since he and a colleague at a St Louis newspaper in 2003 decided to write a stage play on a whim. At the time, the script had a different name (“Three Ways to Lovve”) and only went as far as a few rehearsals with a cast.
Fast forward to 2020 and the play was done virtually live on Zoom titled, “3 Way Lovve” and former Los Angeles Talent Agent Andrea Jacobs helped to revise the script and added lines to the play. It was part of the 2020 Hollywood Fringe Festival’s Fringe at Home Series and it was nominated for the 2021 Young-Howze Long Zoom Play Award. It also was virtually staged at the Minnesota and Orlando Fringe Festivals.
Location : Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre (SFS Theatre mainstage), 5636 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, ca 90038
