Overview
Synopsis
Comedian Steve Martin’s absurd comedy of historical fiction, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, has Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso meet in a bar in Paris in 1904, the year before Einstein’s theory of relativity and Picasso’s transition into cubism. The two celebrities of science and art spar for their fields, surrounded by a cast of supporting characters from the turn of the century and beyond. The anachronistic, self-referential, and self-aware nature of this short one-act enraptures audiences into thinking about the role both science and art play in our lives, the men (and women) who inspire genius, and the philosophies that shape our world over the modern centuries.
Show Information
- Book
- Steve Martin
- Category
- Play
- Age Guidance
- Youth (Y)/General Audiences (G)
- Number of Acts
- 1
- First Produced
- 1993
- Genres
- Comedy
- Settings
- Unit/Single Set
- Time & Place
- 1904, paris, lapin agile bar
- Cast Size
- medium
- Orchestra Size
- None
- Dancing
- None
- Licensor
- Concord Theatricals
- Ideal For
- professional, college, university, community, high school, Mostly Male Cast, Includes Adult, Mature Adult, Young Adult Characters, Medium Cast
Context
Picasso at the Lapin Agile was given its world-premiere in 1993, followed by a nearly six-month run, at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre. The show went to New York and became a long-running off-Broadway hit. The first full-length play by comedian Steve Martin of stand-up and “Saturday Night Live” fame, Picasso reflects Martin’s absurdist style in a self-aware, self-referential, and anachronistic one-act comedy. Winner of the 1996 Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Play, this
to read the context for Picasso at the Lapin Agile and to unlock other amazing theatre resources!Plot
Freddy, owner of the Lapin Agile bar, tends to his customer, Gaston, an older regular at the establishment. A young Einstein–initially not recognized since he is not wearing his hair in the tell-tale loose way made famous by his future photos, and because he has entered out of order from the dramatis personae in the play’s program–comes into the bar for a date, scheduled at another establishment. He assures Gaston that the woman will surely arrive at the wrong bar, just as he has.
Freddy's
to read the plot for Picasso at the Lapin Agile and to unlock other amazing theatre resources!Characters
| Name | Part Size | Gender | Vocal Part |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Lead |
Male |
Spoken |
|
|
Lead |
Male |
Spoken |
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|
Lead |
Male |
Spoken |
|
|
Lead |
Female |
Spoken |
|
|
Supporting |
Female |
Spoken |
|
|
Supporting |
Male |
Spoken |
|
|
Supporting |
Male |
Spoken |
|
|
Supporting |
Male |
Spoken |
|
|
Featured |
Male |
Spoken |
|
|
Featured |
Female |
Spoken |
|
|
Featured |
Female |
Spoken |
Songs
A song with an asterisk (*) before the title indicates a dance number; a character listed in a song with an asterisk (*) by the character's name indicates that the character exclusively serves as a dancer in this song, which is sung by other characters.
Monologues
Scenes
Key Terms
A play with only one act. One-act plays may have several scenes and vary in length, from short single scenes to full-length scripts.
Drama which abandons conventional dramatic form to portray the futility of human struggle in a senseless world.
Videos
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Themes, Symbols & Motifs
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