Two River Theater Company Presents PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE, Previews 5/18

Two River Theater Co. is proud to present Picasso at the Lapin Agile, a hilarious and madcap comedy by Steve Martin, and directed by Hal Brooks.

Says director Brooks: "Steve Martin, actor, novelist, playwright, painter (!), and former standup comedian, began his career as a magician. What a welcome surprise to see, years later, that Martin would employ his well-honed gift for the absurd toward playwriting."

Written by comic genius Steve Martin, Picasso at the Lapin Agile is set in the famous Lapin Agile (Nimble Bunny) bar in Paris in 1904. It follows a magical, mythical meeting of Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein on the cusp of their fame. Through sexuality, artistry, and comedy, this play examines the dawning of the 20th century.

Two River is proud to welcome back cast members Emily Ackerman (co-author of Re-Entry), Bradford Cover (Heartbreak House), and Glenn Peters (Mere Mortals), as well as Rachel Botchan, Ray DeMattis, Drew Hirshfield, Lucas Miller, Alfredo Narciso and Larry Paulsen.

Picasso at the Lapin Agile begins previews on Tuesday, May 18, opens Saturday, May 22, and runs through Sunday, June 6.

Biographies
Hal Brooks, Director: directed the Obie Winning No Child... by Nilaja Sun, which ran at the Barrow Street Theatre, Lookingglass, ART, Woolly Mammoth (DC), Kirk Douglas (LA), Berkeley Rep and the Long Wharf. He also directed the world premiere of Will Eno's Pulitzer Finalist Thom Pain (based on nothing). Recent projects: Itamar Moses's Back Back Back (Dallas Theater Center), Precious Little (Clubbed Thumb) and My Name is Asher Lev (Marin Theater Company). A Drama League Fellow, Hal is also a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, SDC, and is a recipient of the 2007-09 NEA TCG Career Development Program for Directors.
Emily Ackerman*, Germaine: is the co-author of Re-Entry, which was commissioned by Two River Theater Company and received a critically acclaimed world premiere production here in 2009, and at Urban Stages in NYC in 2010. Ackerman is an Associate Artist with The Civilians, an Obie Award winning company that specializes in interview based theatre. With The Civilians: This Beautiful City (Original Collaborator/Performer; Colorado Springs, ATL/Humana Festival 2008, Studio Theatre, Center Theatre Group, Vineyard Theatre), Gone Missing (Barrow Street Theatre, Off-Broadway Cast Album, Actor's Theatre Of Louisville); and developmental workshops of The Great Immensity by Steve Cosson, and Shadow of Himself by Neal Bell. Additional performance credits include: Stray, Cherry Lane Theatre; Precious Little, Clubbed Thumb; Well (as Lisa Kron), Arena Stage; Clean Alternatives, 59E59th Street/Edinburgh Festival; The People's Temple, Perseverance Theatre; The Constant Wife, American Conservatory Theatre & Seattle Repertory Theatre; Ghosts, Berkeley Repertory Theatre; The Seagull, Twelfth Night, Love's Labours Lost, The Skin of our Teeth, Romeo & Juliet, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead, Medea, California Shakespeare Theater; St. Joan, The Entertainer, The Weir, Aurora Theatre Company; the world premiere of Kissing the Witch, Magic Theatre.
Rachel Botchan*, Suzanne: Off-Broadway: The Pearl Theatre Co. (company member); Hard Times, Vieux Carre, Tartuffe, Twelfth Night, Toys in the Attic, Romeo and Juliet, Richard III (Bayfield Award), among many others. Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre: Yoshke Musikant, The Blacksmith's Folly and The Maiden of Ludmir. Regional: Philadelphia Theatre Co. (Barrymore nomination for Joan in Orson's Shadow), Milwaukee Rep., Virginia Stage, Cincinatti Playhouse, Rep. of St. Louis, among others. Audio books: narrator for Recorded Books. Training: NYU Tisch.

Bradford Cover*, Freddy: Broadway: A Thousand Clowns. Off Broadway: Hard Times, Tartuffe, Twelfth Night, The Gentleman Dancing Master, Arms and the Man, School for Wives, Richard II, The Forest, Misalliance, The Beaux Strategem, When Ladies Battle, and Mrs. Warren's Profession among many others at The Pearl Theatre Company (Company Member/Trustee). Return of the Prodigal, The Mint; The Man of Destiny (Reading/Project Shaw) Off-Off Broadway: Waxing West, The Lark. A number of staged readings with The Actor's Company Theatre. Regional: Heartbreak House, Two River Theater Co.; Little Foxes, Measure for Measure, Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Love's Labor's Lost, New Jersey Shakespeare Festival; The Blue Room, The Importance of Being Earnest, Cleveland Playhouse; Betrayal, Vermont Stage Co.; Learned Ladies, McCarter Theatre; Lives of the Saints, Philadelphia Theatre Company; Sleuth, Othello, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival; I Hate Hamlet, New London Barn; An Empty Plate at the Cafe de Grand Beouf, Berkshire Theatre Festival; Charley's Aunt, St. Michael's Playhouse; Love's Labor's Lost, King Lear, Texas Shakespeare Festival; Television: "Law and Order", "All My Children". Directed House of Bernarda Alba, and Summer at the American Academy of Dramatic Art. Acting faculty at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Co-Founder and Associate Artistic Director of Bowman Ensemble in Baltimore MD 1990-94. Graduate of Denison University, and PTTP University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. bradfordcover.com.

 

Ray DeMattis*, Gaston: Broadway: Little Shop of Horrors, City of Angels, Zoya's Apartment, and the original Grease. TV: "The Sopranos", "Law and Order", nine guest-star appearances, Bill Cosby's three series, "Everwood", "Love and War", and various soaps. Films: Untitled, It Runs in the Family, Family Business, Brewster's Millions, Fatherhood with Patrick Swayze and Halle Berry. Off-Broadway: Enter Laughing-The Musical, Eric Bogosian's Talk Radio. Polish Joke, Tamara, The Good Times are Killing Me, The Streets of New York and Flora, The Red Menace. National tours: Beauty and the Beast, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Fiddler on the Roof, and South Pacific. Regional theater affiliations: Long Wharf, Actors Theatre Of Louisville, Geva, Cleveland Playhouse, Goodspeed Opera House, Penn Centre Stage, et al. Edinburgh Theatre Festival: The Gospel According to Mark Twain. Founding Artistic Director of the National Theatre Workshop of the Handicapped.

Drew Hirshfield* Albert Einstein: Regional: Credits include such plays as The Seagull, Mother Courage, The Knight of the Burning Pestle, Amadeus, The Winter's Tale, Rock 'N' Roll; with such theaters as Magic Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, The Wilma, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, The Huntington, Berkeley Rep. In New York: Work on brand new plays with Collaboration Town, Packawollop, Infinite Stage, New York Stage and Film. Training: American Conservatory Theater's MFA program. Thanks: AMF.

Lucas Miller, Visitor: Miller graduated from Rutgers University in 2008 with a B.F.A in acting where he starred in several productions including Romeo and Juliet as Mercutio, In Arabia We'd All Be Kings as Skank and several more. In more recent productions he has played Otto in The Alchemist of Light at The Connelly Theatre in NYC as part of the International Fringe Festival. He has just finished his first full length movie playing the lead role of Owen in "Stay Single" and begins his next role in a feature film this summer as Clark in "Trust Me".

Alfredo Narciso*, Pablo Picasso: Broadway: A Streetcar Named Desire, Roundabout; Off-Broadway: Measure For Measure, Chair, TFANA; Safe, Studio Dante; Drunken City, Playwrights Horizons; Misanthrope, NYTW. Regional: A.R.T., Huntington, Long Wharf, ATP, Orlando Shakes, Magic, Princeton Rep., STNJ, HBO Comedy Arts Festival. TV/Film: Tied To A Chair, The Guys, Living & Dining, "Ugly Betty", "Law & Order", "L&O: CI", "Third Watch", "All My Children", "Tough Crowd With Colin Quinn". alfredonarciso.com
Larry Paulsen*, Sagot: Off-Broadway: The Winter's Tale at CSC, Julius Caesar at New York Shakespeare Festival, Delacorte Theatre; Swansong at the Lion Theatre. Regional: Shakespeare Theatre Company, Henry V, Richard II; Intiman Theatre: Three Sisters, The Play's The Thing, Our Town; Seattle Repertory: The Chosen, The Shaughraun, Inspecting Carol, Caucasian Chalk Circle; Huntington Theatre Company: Koko in The Mikado, Midsummer Night's Dream, Gross Indecency; Denver Center Theatre Company: You Can't Take It With You, Pride and Prejudice; seven seasons with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Wild Oats, The Father, Alls Well That Ends Well, etc; ALLIANCE THEATRE Company: Mrs. Warren's Profession; Cleveland Play House: Room Service; A Contemporary Theatre: Absurd Person Singular, Marriage of Bette and Boo, Sunsets and Glories; Kansas City Rep: Saint Joan, Liliom, Indian Ink; Mark Taper Forum, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, The Empty Space, North Shore Music Theatre, Seattle Children's Theatre, among others.

Glenn Peters*, Charles Dabernow Schmendiman: Previously at TRTC: Mere Mortals. Off-Broadway: The Turn of the Screw, Murder by Poe, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Richard III, Acorn Theatre; American Dreams: Lost and Found, Lucille Lortel. Other New York Theatre: Glimpses of the Moon, Oak Room @ The Algonquin; Sympathy Jones, NYMF; Alice in War, SPF; West Moon Street, Prospect Theater; Murdering Marlowe, Access Theatre; The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World, NYMF. Regional: Our Town, Pioneer Theatre; I Am My Own Wife, ZACH Theatre; In On It, Encore Theatre. Other Regional appearances: Meadow Brook Theatre, Stage One, Saint Michael's Playhouse, Shakespeare Festival/LA, and Utah Shakespearean Festival. Three year alumnus of The Acting Company.

*Denotes a member of Actors' Equity Association.

The creative team is made up of Donyale Werle (set designer), whose last production at Two River was Mary's Wedding, Kirche Leigh Zeile (costumes), Thom Weaver (lighting designer) who was most recently here with 26 Miles, and Ryan Rumery (original music and sound design).

Picasso at the Lapin Agile is scheduled to run Tuesday, May 18 through Sunday, June 6. Tickets are $35 - $61. Get more information online at www.trtc.org, call 732.345.1400, or visit the Two River Theater Company Box Office in Red Bank, located at 21 Bridge Avenue. Box Office Hours: Monday-Saturday: 10am-6pm; Sunday: 12pm-5pm.

Picasso cast member Glenn Peters will lead Before Play. This pre-show discussion series is scheduled 45 minutes prior to every performance and will offer an glimpse into the life of Steve Martin. Post-show discussions are scheduled following the 8pm performance on Wednesday, May 26 and following each of the Sunday matinees: May 23, May 30, and June 6 at 3pm, as well as Wednesday, June 1 at 1pm. There is two student matinee performances scheduled on May 25 (SOLD OUT) and June 1 at 10am. Discounted group rates are available through the Box Office.

TRTC is accessible to people with disabilities, including wheelchair accessibility, assistive listening devices and large print programs at every performance. Accessible seating is available by reservation. For more information call the Box Office at 732.345.1400.

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