Another Vermeer is based on a true story: Dutch painter Han Van Meegeren is in prison awaiting execution for selling a lost Vermeer painting to Hermann Goring that was really a forgery he painted himself. In order to get out of his predicament, he plans to paint another forgery while in prison to prove his innocence and guilt at the same time.

It is an intriguing idea, and the plot has a way of turning in on itself. If he is innocent of selling a masterpiece, he is guilty of forgery. If he is to be rewarded for letting the Third Reich waste its money on a forgery, he is guilty of doing business with them at all. And round and round we go.

As Van Meegeren plods along, people from his past appear as visions. As the discussion changes, so do their identities. One critic assumes both past and present forms and mixes in with the jailers to engage in an argument of wits and daring. The best of these scenes was like watching a fencing match of masters.

This is not a remarkable play, but it does get you thinking not only about the past but about duplicity of any kind and how it has a tendency to stick to the bottom of your shoes wherever you go.

What is most remarkable, however, is the theater which is home to Another Vermeer. There are few places you can go in New York and see a play in a space that rivals the size of your apartment, or your living room for that matter. It is in spaces like the Abingdon that New York theater is truly born. All because someone walked into an empty loft, or office space, and the first thought they had was, "Yeah. This will work." So they painted a black box and figured out where the chairs will go and got some lights – et voila! When someone runs water in the suite above the Abingdon, you can hear it travel down the pipes to the audience's left. A reminder that we straddle two worlds whenever we are in the theater – the reality of form and the reality of fantasy.

Theaters like the Abingdon are out there producing new work over and over again. At a price of $20/ticket, or $50 for a year's subscription, they are oases for any theater lover. The New York Times and the other major papers don't bother with these theaters - all the more reason we should.

Another Vermeer by Bruce J. Robinson; Directed by Kelly Morgan

With Thom Christopher (Dr. Abraham Bredius), Dan Cordle (Bartus Korteling), 
Justin Grace (Bram Van Ter Horst, Jan Vermeer), Christian Pedersen (Lt. Thomas Keller) 
and Austin Pendleton (Han Van Meegeren)

Sets, Jeff Pajer; costumes, Deborah Caney; lighting, Tony Kudner;

At the Abingdon Theater Arts Complex, 312 West 36th Street, Manhattan; tickets (212) 868-4444 or at Smarttix. Through April 20th.