Bakersfield Mist
11 May – 3 June 2023
Ad Astra, Misterton Street, Fortitude Valley
Bakersfield Mist is inspired by the true story of a retired long-haul trucker in California, Teri Horton, who went hunting for a gag present for her depressed friend and found a big painting of drips and splurges and squiggles in a junk shop. She paid five dollars for the “masterpiece” and, after her friend rejected it, added it to a garage sale. This was where it was seen by an art teacher, who thought it might be a Jackson Pollock, the mid 20th century abstract expressionist. So began an extraordinary determination to have the painting authenticated and, perhaps, sold for millions of dollars. The most famous of the experts who came to view the picture was Thomas Hoving, a one-time Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and it is the meeting of these two characters which inspired this play.
Directed by multi-award winner Jennifer Flowers and starring Ad Astra’s Creative Director Fiona Kennedy, as well as introducing Steven Grives to the Ad Astra stage for the first time, Bakersfield Mist is a 90-minute rollercoaster ride which becomes a battle of class, education, common sense versus experience, fake versus real. Steven Sachs’s two-hander brings together larger than life characters refuse to shift their perspectives; his, that the picture is a fake; hers, that the picture is genuine. Inspired by true events, this comedy-drama asks vital questions about what makes art and people truly authentic.
For ticketing and further information, visit the Ad Astra website
Backstreet Brisbane 
Leave a Reply