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Picasso at the Lapin Agile

  • Steve Martin
  • Full Length Play, Comedy, 1900-1910
  • 7M, 2F
  • ISBN: 9780573695643

"Highly credible and... very funny. The subject matter is daring... You get giggles in plenty [and] moments of enlightenment... The introduction of the final, exquisitely selected visitor from the future is a master stroke."

New York Post

  • Full Length Play
  • Comedy

  • Time Period: 1900-1910
  • Target Audience: Pre-Teen (Age 11 - 13), Teen (Age 14 - 18), Adult, Senior
  • Set Requirements: Interior Set
  • Cautions: Alcohol

  • Accolades:
  • Winner! 1996 Outer Critics Circle Award - Best Off-Broadway Play
This long-running Off-Broadway absurdist comedy places Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso in a Parisian cafe in 1904, just before the renowned scientist transformed physics with his theory of relativity and the celebrated painter set the art world afire with cubism.

In his first comedy for the stage, the popular actor and screenwriter plays fast and loose with fact, fame and fortune as these two geniuses muse on the century's achievements and prospects as well as other fanciful topics with infectious dizziness.

Bystanders, including Picasso's agent, the bartender and his mistress, Picasso's date, an elderly philosopher, Charles Dabernow Schmendimen and an idiot inventor introduce additional flourishes of humor. The final surprise patron to join the merriment at the Lapin Agile is a charismatic dark haired singer time warped in from a later era.

REVIEWS:

"It's important to remember that the playwright of Picasso at the Lapin Agile is Steve Martin, stand-up comic, actor, writer, banjo player and something of a genius in his own right. So when bog questions are being addressed, you can be sure that a layer of silliness is always in place (and, subversively, a layer of seriousness beneath that)."

 The New York Times

"Highly credible and... very funny. The subject matter is daring... You get giggles in plenty [and] moments of enlightenment... The introduction of the final, exquisitely selected visitor from the future is a master stroke."

 New York Post

"Consistently entertaining."

 New York Daily News

"Very engaging... Martin sends ideas onstage in baggy pants, with a cigar... mix[ing] the sublime and the ridiculous [so] that they can't be easily disentangled... Very good fun."

 The New York Times

"A major treat."

 Newsday

"Steve Martin's enlightening play is equally smart and silly..."

 Hartford Courant

Premiere Production: Picasso at the Lapin Agile opened at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois, on October 13, 1993.
  • Casting: 7M, 2F
  • Casting Attributes: Expandable casting
  • Casting Notes: Parts for up to 7 men and 4 women.

  • FREDDY - the owner and bartender of the Lapin Agile
    GASTON - an older man
    GERMAINE - waitress and Freddy's girlfriend
    ALBERT EINSTEIN - age twenty-five
    SUZANNE - age nineteen
    SAGOT - Picasso's art dealer
    PABLO PICASSO - age twenty-three
    CHARLES DABERNOW SCHMENDIMAN - a young man
    THE COUNTESS
    A FEMALE ADMIRER
    A VISITOR
  • Name Price
    Picasso at the Lapin Agile Script Order Now

    This long running Off-Broadway absurdist comedy places Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso in a Parisian cafe in 1904, just before the renowned scientist transformed physics with his theory of relativity and the celebrated painter set the art world afire with cubism. 

    In his first comedy for the stage, the popular actor and screenwriter plays fast and loose with fact, fame and fortune as these two geniuses muse on the century's achievements and prospects as well as other fanciful topics with infectious dizziness.

    Bystanders, including Picasso's agent, the bartender and his mistress, Picasso's date, an elderly philosopher, Charles Dabernow Schmendimen and an idiot inventor introduce additional flourishes of humor. The final surprise patron to join the merriment at the Lapin Agile is a charismatic dark haired singer time warped in from a later era. 

    $24.95