Bainbridge Performing Arts Presents Steve Martin’s “Picasso at the Lapin Agile”

Media Contact:
Sally Jo Martine
Phone: 206-842-8578
www.theplayhouse.org
smartine@theplayhouse.org

In Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Steve Martin imagines a chance encounter in 1904 between Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein at the famous Left Bank cabaret, the Lapin Agile. Einstein is one year away from publishing his Theory of Relativity and Picasso is three years from painting Les Damoiselles D’Avignon, the touchstone of cubism and modern art. Filled with a zany array of bohemian characters, Martin’s play is an inspired exploration of the meaning of genius, the source of creative inspiration and the relative values of art and science in the 20th Century.

On first reading Picasso in the mid 90s, Director Kate Carruthers reports she laughed out loud and loved it right away. A long time fan, Carruthers first saw Martin in a stand up comedy act in 1971 at the Troubadour nightclub in West Los Angeles. “He was the lead-in act for The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, who I was there to see, and at the time, I had no idea who he was. He was extraordinary, startlingly different, big.... and happy. I confess I didn't fully get all his jokes, or non-jokes (like the arrow through his head) at the time, but I was hooked.”

Delighted to be directing Picasso for BPA, Carruthers sees the play as a seamless fit with the organization’s mission to educate. She says, “it’s smart and entertaining and it's about art and science and their relative (excuse the pun) importance in each of our lives.” She goes on to extol the virtues of the play, noting Martin’s use of both left and right-brained perspectives. “What I love about this play, and Steve Martin, is that it and he honor both vantages…acknowledging that they are perhaps not such mutually exclusive approaches to life.”

Kate hopes people come away from this play feeling inspired and highly entertained. Further, she hopes that Picasso helps perpetuate the community’s good fight to maintain arts programs and opportunities in our schools. And, she laughs, “I hope to see a few arrows though some heads around town.”

Though involved with BPA in nearly every capacity for more than 20 years, Kate notes that this marks her first time directing as part of BPA’s mainstage Theatre Season. In former roles with BPA she has been a board member, actor, makeup designer, light crewmember, set builder, and children’s theater parent. She traveled with Greasepaint to the Soviet Union in 1989, doing makeup for the collaboration “Lullaby for Tomorrow.” Most recently, Kate directed the Island Theatre/BPA co-production “More Fun Than Bowling.”

Winner of the 1996 Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off Broadway Play and best Playwright, Picasso at the Lapin Agile explores the very essence of art and science. Martin says, “I think they are very similar and I wanted to make that point…art and science are about people being very, very intuitive and making gigantic leaps.” A regular contributor to the New Yorker Magazine, Martin’s essays and articles are often easily recognizable by his trademark wackiness, but they are also very thoughtful commentaries on our culture and contemporary events. An eloquent writer, he is really much more than a comic genius. In fall 2005, Steve Martin was awarded the 2005 Mark Twain Humorist Award, and his best-selling novella “The Shopgirl” was released as a major motion picture.

Picasso at the Lapin Agile appears at The Playhouse January 20 – 29, 2006, with shows Thursdays - Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. A special Pay-What-You-Can-Preview is Thursday, January 19. Tickets, $9 for students, $15 for seniors, and $18 for adults, are available at The Playhouse, 200 Madison Avenue North, Bainbridge Island, or they may be charged by phone at 206-842-8569 or purchased online at www.theplayhouse.org. BPA Box Office hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, 10 a.m. to 1p.m., and one hour prior to each performance. The production has one intermission and is suitable for PG-13 audiences. Bainbridge Performing Arts extends special thanks to our sponsors: Presenting Sponsor: 3M Digital Signage Services (formerly Mercury Online Solutions); Media Sponsors: Kitsap Sun/The Bainbridge Islander; Production Sponsors: Focus & Fusion and Oil & Water Art Supply.

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