Two geniuses walk into a bar.
That's the premise that launches Steve Martin's "Picasso at the Lapin Agile," which Pima Community College Theatre Arts opens next week.
The PCC ensemble has a lot to say about Martin's clever 1993 play. Director Mickey Nugent described it as a witty and silly spin on the nature of genius that makes you think.
The story is about an imagined meeting between artist Pablo Picasso and physicist Albert Einstein in 1904, when both were young men about to burst onto the scene.
Picasso (played by Diego Lopez) was 23 years old in 1904 and a few years away from painting "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon," which serves as a backdrop in the bar. Einstein was 25, with the publication of his theory of relativity a year away.
"Picasso at the Lapin Agile" is a "what-if" scenario that gives the audience plenty to ponder, and much to laugh about.
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"With comedy, you have to throw yourself out there," said Andrew Baughman, who plays Einstein. He called the entire show an "icebox laugh," meaning there are moments that will make you laugh long after the play is over.
"I hope they continue laughing all the way out the doors and into their cars," said Nugent.
Martin's piece plays with what's real and what's imaginary. The meeting between Picasso and Einstein, not to mention the entrance of a visitor who resembles a certain icon in blue suede shoes, is fictional. But the action takes place at a real place, the Lapin Agile, a bar in the Montmartre district of Paris.
Bryant Enriquez, who plays the visitor to the bar, described the play as "sexy with a brain."
Preview
"Picasso at the Lapin Agile"
• Presented by: Pima Community College Theatre Arts.
• Playwright: Steve Martin.
• Director: Mickey Nugent.
• When: Preview is 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Opening night is 7:30 p.m. Thursday, and performances continue next Friday and Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. and Nov. 13-16.
• Where: Pima Community College Center for the Arts, Black Box Theatre, 2202 W. Anklam Road.
•Tickets: $15, with discounts available.
•Information: 206-6986.
•Running time: 90 minutes, with no intermission.
