Geniuses square off in Soap Lake

Quirky 'Picasso' battles limited actor supply, gas prices, summer

SOAP LAKE — Albert, meet Pablo. Pablo, Albert.

That's the premise behind "Picasso at the Lapin Agile," which will be playing at Masquers Theater beginning June 24: Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso meet up at a Parisian "dive of a bar" in 1904, the eponymous Lapin Agile, as young men on the cusp of their fame.

The play was written by actor-screenwriter-novelist Steve Martin, whose credits include the films "The Jerk," "L.A. Story," "Roxanne," "Bowfinger" and "The Father of the Bride" movies, as well as novellas "Shopgirl" and "The Pleasure of My Company."

"Picasso" director Cynthia Dano said she has seen the play twice.

"It's just quirky, it's Steve Martin, it's off the wall, it's not a deep play," she said. "It's just, you go out and have fun with it. And so I thought, 'You know, I could really have some fun with it.'"

The bar is, in fact, an actual place in Paris that Picasso frequented in his life, Dano said, noting that the artist even painted himself at the Lapin Agile.

"I don't think Einstein did (go to the bar), but that's part of the whimsy of it," she said. "It's kind of an interesting juxtaposition of the two personalities. There's a little back and forth, maybe competition, because they're basically two geniuses, and they've met each other, and all that entails."

Dano does offer a caveat that "Picasso" is less tame than some of the play productions she was involved with in Moses Lake, including adult language and adult situations. She theorized that the play should probably be rated PG-14 or PG-15.

"We had a certain audience that was our base, and we were trying to make sure that we didn't really overstep any bounds there," she said. "Masquers is a little different. I would say there's a little more artistic freedom, you can push the envelope a little bit more. So I knew that if I were to do it, it would be on this stage."

As a director, Dano said she liked the off-the-wall nature of the play, to the degree that she says she has knocked down all the walls.

"Once it started taking shape, then I could really go, 'OK, we're going to really run with this,'" she said. "Things that weren't in the script, or I've just taken it a lot farther than was scripted."

Dano said a challenge has been that the Grant County area has a limited supply of actors and actresses, which can make finding a cast of 10 people tougher. It means the same people appear in each play, which burns out the talent and doesn't give the audience fresh faces, she said.

"We're competing with summer," she added. "That's kind of tough, because we're not just competing against the movie theater; we're competing against summer and all that it encompasses. It makes it tough to grab people and say, 'Come see this play.'"

It also means that the play is competing with high summer gasoline prices; the majority of the cast carpools from Moses Lake to Soap Lake.

"We have some young actors in this play, because it is about Picasso and Einstein in their youth, not as most people remember seeing them," Dano said. "Some of these kids just can't afford to drive — price of gas is high and they have families. We offered to carpool these people, so that was one less expense that they didn't have to worry about."

Joel Chavez and Tristan Hall play Picasso and Einstein, respectively. How do they prepare to play such famous people? Chavez did some research, looking up the artist online and reading through the script to get a feel for how Martin made him out to be.

Hall agreed with the research, and said he likes to go off by himself before each performance to get into character. But don't expect his Einstein to sound like something out of "I.Q.", the 1994 film where Walter Matthau played the scientist.

"Cynthia did not want us to try and bring off an accent," Hall explained. "She wanted all of our efforts to be on lines and body language."

"I think it's going to be a fun play, a funny play," Chavez previewed. "We're going to incorporate the audience into the play, so they won't be watching people on stage acting."

Jennifer Jessen said she recently moved back to Soap Lake, and playing the part of waitress Germaine is one of the ways she can express her creativity.

"We've had a lot of fun with it," she said of the play.

Darryl Pheasant, who plays Freddy the bartender, said he is allowed to perform in one play per year because he is a single father.

"I always have to pick my timing, pick the moment where it fits best into a schedule each year," he said. "I like comedies, so this looked like a fun play. This is a very lighthearted, very funny play. It's unique with regards to the plays that have gone on here, and a very good change of pace."

Eric Suitter, who plays acerbic Lapin Agile barfly Gaston, made the shocking suggestion that some people should not attend the play.

"This is too good for the normal man on the street," he said. "If they don't want to have any fun, (they should) stay at home."