Long Wharf Theatre to Present Steve Martin's PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE, 11/26-12/21

Long Wharf Theatre, under the leadership of Artistic Director Gordon Edelstein and Managing Director Joshua Borenstein and in association with Jonathan Reinis Productions and Stephen Eich, presents Steve Martin's Picasso at the Lapin Agile, directed by Edelstein, running November 26 through December 21, 2014 on the Claire Tow Stage in the C. Newton Schenck Mainstage Theatre.

Tickets are $25-75. The press opening is Wednesday, December 3 at 7:30 pm.

The cast includes Penny Balfour (Germaine), Grayson DeJesus (Picasso), Tom Riis Farrell (Freddy), Ronald Guttman (Sagot), David Margulies (Gaston), Dina Shihabi (Suzanne/Countess/Female Admirer), Jake Silbermann (A Visitor), Jonathan Spivey (Schmendiman), and Robbie Tann (Einstein.)

The creative team includes Michael Yeargan (sets), Jess Goldstein (costumes), Don Holder (lights), and David Budries (sound). Rebecca Monroe is the stage manager.

What happens when Picasso and Einstein walk into a bar? Intellectual fireworks, verbal gymnastics, amorous intentions, and the arrival of a mysterious man in blue suede shoes. On an October evening in 1904, Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso end up at the same small bar in Paris - the Lapin Agile. The two young geniuses, joined by an eccentric cast of characters, spar over art and science, their respective libidos, where inspiration comes from, and the promise and dreams of the 20th century. Steve Martin brings his zany and profoundly intelligent brand of humor back to Long Wharf Theatre. --- No joke is too low brow and no idea too high brow to be considered in this crowd pleasing comedy.

Picasso... follows Long Wharf Theatre's successful run of Steve Martin's The Underpants during the 2013- 14 Season. "The play is a comic celebration of genius and ingenuity at the dawn of the 20th century. With brilliant comic arias and surprises at every turn, it is Steve Martin's homage to the genius and amazing thought that will be born in the 20th century," Edelstein said.

In the midst of the all of the fun, the play invites its audience to consider serious questions about the intersection of art and science, the very nature of genius and innovation, and human beings who often seem to be conduits for changing the world.

The play debuted in 1993 at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, featuring Long Wharf Theatre veterans Mark Nelson as Einstein and Tim Hopper as Picasso. Martin was inspired by a 1904 Pablo Picasso painting, titled "At the Lapin Agile." Martin saw a photo of the painting hanging unstretched and unframed on a wall - a simple bit of wall decoration. "And that year, whenever it was, 1992, the painting was hanging at the Metropolitan Museum, all stretched out, with a $40,000 frame on it. And I knew it had recently sold for $1 million, and it just sent me back to those days when nothing had any (monetary) value and everything was just about ideas," Martin said in an interview.

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