Picasso at the Lapin Agile by Steve Martin
Delaware Theatre Company
December 3 - 21, 2008
General Beauty | Program Letter | Photos
Sets: Eric Schaeffer
Costumes: Andrea Barrier
Lights: Troy A. Martin-O’Shia
Sound & Original Music: Christopher Colucci
Choreography: Samantha Bellomo
Stage Manager: Kari Krein
Cast (in alphabetical order): Danny Bernardy, Aaron Cromie, Lee Ann Etzold, Nathan Holt, Jeb Kreager, John Morrison, Karen Peakes, Matt Pfeiffer, and Caesar Samayoa
This production was partially inspired by the work of Robert Delaunay.
Listen to Chris Colucci’s tango treatment of “When A Man Loves A Woman”
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General Beauty
The yearning & the break-through
“I could dream it forever and still not do it, but when the time comes for it to be done, God, I want to be ready for it...” - Picasso (as written by Steve Martin)
To me, this play is not about the similarity between art and science. It is about people yearning for more - striving to be better, to learn more, to reach higher. The beauty that really speaks to me is the hope each character displays for more out of themselves. It shows both the breakthrough moments that can come as a result of those yearnings - and the inevitable falling on our face that also comes when we pursue those yearnings with wild abandon. (These guys trip up all the time - especially Picasso and Einstein. It’s a perfect combo of the high and the low, which is a trademark of Steve Martin at his best. “In the gutter looking at the stars...”)
“There’s a little genius in everybody, and a lot of everybody in every little genius.” - David Stradley (as written by David Stradley)
There’s a secondary, subtle beauty in the play that comes from linking the geniuses to the everyday. It’s not just the geniuses who are yearning. The play makes us ponder how Picasso gaining the vision for an earth-shattering masterpiece is similar to a girl gaining the understanding of how her heart works. It makes us wonder about how Einstein trying to get his ideas out there and be respected for them is similar to a woman wanting to get her ideas out there and not be trampled by men. Or how a man transitioning from adulthood to senility is as big of a transition as going Picasso going from his Blue Period to cubism.
WHEN THE AUDIENCE LEAVES THE THEATRE...
...their spirits should be exhilarated from reaching for the stars and their ribs should hurt from laughing at themselves so much.
METAPHOR
The play is a Robert Delaunay painting from his series on St. Severin or the Eiffel Tour. The play bends, refracts, and leaps but never quite shatters into cubism. Delaunay’s early works show a sense of fun and creativity while also emphasizing a vertical reaching that seems quite at peace with the spirit of the play. Einstein and Picasso haven’t quite made their big breakthroughs yet, but they are bubbling within them. That’s what Delaunay’s works feel like to me - you can sense cubism about to shatter forth, but for now there is still a sense of play within the bounds of realism.
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Program Letter
First off, thanks for coming. We’re glad you’re here. We hope to give you some warmth, some laughter, and maybe even a little bit of thought. And if that’s why you came to DTC today, well, then you’ve got something in common with the folks who called the Lapin Agile their neighborhood bar back in turn of the (twentieth) century Paris.
The bar (still in operation today) was a place of creativity and music, friendship and joy. Like “Cheers”, at the Lapin Agile everybody knew your name. It just so happens that at the Lapin Agile, the names were not Norm, Cliff, and Frasier, but Picasso, Modigliani, and Apollinaire. We only meet Picasso tonight, but hopefully you’ll be able to feel the creative energy bursting out of the walls and peeking around the corners.
There is no record that Einstein ever stepped foot in the Lapin Agile. But I’m sure he would have had a great time. The delightful mind of Steve Martin puts these two guys together before they were THE GREATEST CREATIVE MINDS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY!!! Neither one of them have hit it big yet. They’re still struggling, fighting for girls, and cracking dumb jokes - just like the rest of us. In fact, one could say that at the Lapin Agile, there’s a little genius in everybody, and a lot of everybody in every little genius.
All the folks in the bar, both the geniuses and the “Joe Six-Packs” alike, spend the night yearning for growth while constantly tripping over their own feet, until a mysterious visitor pushes them all to a breakthrough moment of grace.
I think that was the promise of the Lapin Agile. It was a safe place. A place where you could come try to be the best version of yourself (or at least try to figure out what that was). It was a place to recover from turbulent times, and a place to hope for a better tomorrow.
I don’t know about you, but that’s a place I’d like to visit every once in a while. And that’s what we try to provide each time you come to Delaware Theatre Company.
So, thanks again for coming. Grab a chair, or belly up to the bar. Thanks to Steve Martin, the jokes are great. Thanks to this amazing group of actors and designers, the company and atmosphere can’t be beat. And thanks to you, we all get to share in this together.
As always, I’m thrilled to hear your thoughts and experiences of your journeys through our plays. Feel free to drop me a line at dstradley@delawaretheatre.org.
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