French playwright, novelist and screenwriter Yasmina Reza began her career as an actress. It was in 1987, however, that she revealed her supreme weapon – the pen. Her play, Conversations After a Burial, won her a Moliere award, the French equivalent of a Tony. From there, she racked up several more Molieres, as well as Tonys and England’s Laurence Oliviers for works like 1990’s Winter Crossing, 2007’s The God of Carnage (which premiered on Broadway last year with James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden) and 1995’s Art, translated into 20 languages and considered her breakthrough on the world stage.

This weekend, Monterey Peninsula College Theater will stage the second local apperance of Art – the premier was done by PacRep back in 2001 – for a brief two-week run, though its presence is a long-simmering wish fulfilled for director Peter DeBono.

“I saw it during a London theater tour in 1997 and was totally taken with it,” he says between rehearsals. “After the play, [my tour group] went out and got something to eat, and we couldn’t stop talking about it.”

The story, adapted from its French setting, anglicized for its London debut and later Americanized for Broadway, drops in on three friends – Serge, Marc and Yvan, played on the Morgan Stock Stage by James Brady, Ron Genauer and Michael Lojkovic, respectively. Serge buys an inscrutable painting, an off-white slate with three hashmarks on it, for $200,000. That offends Marc’s classical sensibilities; he considers the work a rip-off and questions his friend’s judgment. And they’re off, debating and arguing, as Yvan attempts to appease both combatants.

“It’s an interesting premise,” says DeBono. “What is art? Representational art versus modern art? Lying below the surface of that is the dynamic of what constitutes friendship among these three guys.”

He describes the play as “seemingly innocuous,” lacking much physical action. But, he adds, “it leaves with you.”

Caryn James of the New York Times describes Reza as a “born satirist, a gifted and wry observer of the absurdities and feints of social life.”

What is art? It’s a contentious and seemingly bottomless conversation that’s agitated more than a few cocktail parties and art openings, though DeBono chooses to sidestep the fray: “I adhere to the old adage that you go to a party and avoid talk of religion or politics. I think art almost falls into that category. I just shut up and listen.” (Some local art authorities, however, are more opinionated – see sidebar.)

MPC’s version of Art is set in the present in a universal American city, with costume changes marking the passage of time, a reproduction of the painting occupying a prominent spot, and a minimalist set that stays out of the fracas. Works by Robyn Smith’s MPC art students will occupy the lobby, a real-world complement to the drama. (Smith is represented in a solo MontereyNow show at Monterey Museum of Art-Pacific through Oct. 31.)

“I’ve worked with all three of these [actors] before,” says DeBono. “They know what they’re doing.”

The language recommends Art to a mature audience, he adds, though the play seems like promising discussion material for teens, as well.

What is art? The stage is set to spark more debate on that age-old question. And that’s a good thing.

ART previews this Thursday at 7pm and runs 8pm Friday and Saturday, and 2pm Sunday, through Oct. 24. Monterey Peninsula College’s Morgan Stock Stage Theater, 980 Fremont St., Monterey. $10-$25. 646-4213, www.mpctheatre.com.