(Story courtesy Aiken Community Theatre)
Written by comedian and actor Steve Martin, “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” follows the chance meeting of Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein in a bohemian bar in 1904 Paris.
The Aiken Community Theatre will bring the humor to the stage for five performances over two weekends beginning Oct. 17.
“Steve Martin’s writing is sharp, witty, and timeless. The humor sneaks up on you — it’s laugh-out-loud funny and deeply thoughtful. Audiences will recognize these big ideas, but they’ll also have a great time,” said Shannon Huey, who is directing the show.
Her vision when directing the show emphasizes the electric atmosphere of ideas sparking before history remembers their names.
“What I love about the play is how it captures a moment when the world was on the edge of
extraordinary change,” said Huey. “Through humor and imagination, author Steve Martin reminds us that art and science both have the power to reshape how we see the world.”
Portraying Picasso is Michael Shelfer, making his ACT debut. Opposite him, Cedric Hope plays
Einstein, bringing warmth and wit to the physicist’s early aspirations.
“What really hooked me about Picasso is the idea of Einstein and Picasso just hanging out at a bar talking about dreams before they became the icons of their day,” Huey said.
Picasso immortalized the Lapin Agile, a famous cabaret club in the Montmartre area in his 1905 oil on canvas painting titled “Au Lapin Agile.”
The supporting ensemble features Brian Viner as Freddy; Dave Engelman as Gaston; Korilyn
Hendricks as Germaine; Heather Ashe as Suzanne; Jake Jacobson as Sagot; Taylor Medeiros as
Charles Dabernow Schmendiman; and Ken Hendricks as The Visitor.
The play was first staged on Oct. 13, 1993.
Critics have praised Steve Martin’s blend of “Intellect and absurdity.”
“Steve Martin’s wildly inventive, highly conceptual sense of humor abounds in this fun piece of absurdist historical fiction,” wrote Bob Abelman of the “Austin Chronicle.” “Martin manages to fill the stage with surprising moments of pure foolishness, such as an intellectual duel between Einstein and Picasso where the weapon of choice is a pencil, and a bit of playful meta-theatrics when bartender Freddy sends Einstein offstage upon his first entrance because of a playbill mix-up.
Performances will be at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 17, 18, 24 and 25 and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 19. Tickets range from $18 to $25 and are available at aikencommunitytheatre.org or by calling the box office at (803) 648-1438
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