The Tufts University dramatic group Pen, Paint and Pretzels (3Ps) is presenting three performances of “Red,” directed by Phoebe Cavise (Tufts class of 2018) and written by John Logan.

It’s 1958 in New York City, and famed abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko has just been offered the biggest commission in the history of modern art. Rothko works feverishly with his young assistant, Ken, in his studio on the Bowery. They spend most of their time thinking and talking as Rothko belittles Ken for not understanding his esoteric opinions on art. But when Ken gains the confidence to fight back, Rothko faces the agonizing possibility that his time at the top of the art world might be coming to an end, and that his crowning achievement could become his undoing. Raw and provocative, and based on a true story, Red is a searing portrait of an artist’s ambition and vulnerability as he tries to create what will ultimately become his defining work.

Additional performances will be at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 9, and Saturday, March 10.

Admission tonight is “pay what you can.” Tickets for the Friday and Saturday performances are $8 and will be available at the Balch Arena Theater box office, by calling 617-627-3493, or online through University Tickets.

Founded in 1910, 3Ps is the oldest student organization on the Tufts campus. Each Semester, 3Ps stages one major production and up to two workshop productions. In addition, 3Ps serves as the umbrella organization for many other student performing arts groups.