The thing I've discovered about the Rogue Festival is that you've got to keep a close eye on its Web site for updates (not everything is in the catalog). Otherwise, I would have missed an excellent production of "Art" by Brandon Petrie, Blake Ellis and James Hume on Sunday at the Severance theater.

The play's trigger is a piece of modern art, a canvas of white just bought by Serge (Ellis) for a steep $40,000. The expensive purchase -- Serge really can't afford this -- pisses off his friend, Marc (Petrie). He thinks the art is a piece of, well, you know what.

But don't be misled. This play by Yasmina Reza -- which won the Tony Award for Best Play in 1998 -- isn't really so much about debating the merits of modern art as it is a searing examination of friendship. Though "Art" is funny, it's also brutal. Marc not only is angry with Serge, but he brings their friend Yvan (Hume) into the fray.

What ensues is a witty but harsh dissertation on loyalty, honesty, deceit, control and really hurt feelings. These men may have been friends for 15 years, but what resentments fester when circumstances change? When people change? When other people, or things, take your place?

The three actors have a field day with these characters. (Petrie and Ellis, by the way, are former Fresno State students who represented the university at national acting competitions at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.) Ellis' Serge is smooth and urbane, but insecurities are there. Petrie is a cosmopolitan bully who, we find out, harbors lingering scars from verbal slights.

And Hume's Yvan? He's just trying to survive. Not only does he have to deal with these two crazed friends but he's heading toward a marriage that he -- and we -- know is doomed to fail.

The trio deftly parry and attack in oral jousts that are just as damaging as if they were slugging it out in the street. What elevates "Art" is its language. This isn't just yelling and calling each other names. Reza uses words in sharply phrased sentences that twist like knives. The three actors bite into these roles with relish, and Hume brilliantly nailed one of the longest non-Shakespearean soliloquies in modern theater: a hilarious, rapid-fire, desperate description of why he's late for the friends' planned night out.

I watched Sunday's performance with about a dozen other people, in seats close to the action. It was an intimate setting, like sitting in these characters' living rooms and witnessing -- uncomfortably at times -- the emotional carnage. Reza brings you even more into the story because the characters occasionally talk directly to the audience.

This production has trimmed "Art" to about an hour (I think the original is about 90 minutes), but I don't think it hurts it. Just drop in for a visit, sit down and watch three fine actors at work.

Playing: 6:15 p.m. Friday and 11:30 p.m. Saturday at Severance theater/Cal Arts Academy, 1401 N. Wishon Ave. Cost: $7. Rating: R