New Tower Player’s production is a delightful, historical ‘fever dream’

Home Culture New Tower Player’s production is a delightful, historical ‘fever dream’
New Tower Player’s production is a delightful, historical ‘fever dream’
The cast of “Picasso at the Lapin Agile.”
Courtesy | Katrina Torsoe

What do you get when Picasso, a bartender named Freddy, Einstein, a beautiful blonde, a Neo-Romanticist, and Elvis walk into a bar? “It was a fever dream — but I liked it,” said Lauren Hearne, who attended the dress rehearsal of “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” on March 23. 

The Tower Players’ latest production opens to the public on March 24 at 7:30 p.m. and will run through March 28, with an additional matinee performance on Saturday. Starring Matthew Welch as Picasso, the comedy is set at the Lapin Agile, a real-life bar that artists frequented in 1904 Paris, when the play takes place. Throughout one eventful evening, an eclectic group of people forms at Freddy’s bar to discuss topics ranging from love to art to window shutters and, most importantly, what the 20th century will hold. 

Much of the play is spent anticipating Picasso’s arrival at the Lapin Agile. A young woman named Suzanne, played by Kirby Thigpen, enters the bar hoping to meet him again after they shared a romantic evening two weeks before. Instead, she meets Einstein (Johannes Olson), who examines a drawing of Suzanne by Picasso and wonders, “Why didn’t it happen before? Why didn’t it happen by accident? Why didn’t Raphael doodle this absentmindedly?” 

Just as everyone stands to toast the famous artist, he bursts dramatically through the door in a black cape right in time to join in. “Did you talk about anything else besides me? Did the weather come up?” he asked after toasting himself. “Nope, it was mostly about you,” Einstein replied, exasperated. 

If this all sounds a little surreal, that’s because comedies like “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” are more focused on conversations between the characters than on a dramatic storyline. And like a surrealist painting, these conversations are very interesting but sometimes bizarre — especially when Elvis (Alexander Buchheit) arrives from the future with a message for Picasso.

According to Thigpen, “It’s not hugely plot-driven. There’s a lot of talk about art, and what the 20th century will be like, and it’s about looking to the future,” she said. “It’s a comedy, so it’s not incredibly deep at any point, but there are a couple of monologues by Einstein and Picasso especially about what art is and how we do art.”

Mikela St. John, who is the production stage manager for the play, said that “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” is different from anything the Tower Players have performed in the past.

 “I think it’s really funny, and I won’t say it’s super raunchy because it’s not actually that raunchy, but it’s just a bit more modern than anything we typically do,” she said. “It’s short, it’s a comedy, and it’s PG-13.”

While patrons of the bar come and go throughout the play, one constant character is Freddy the bartender, played by a moustachioed Trenton Olds. Freddy sometimes interacts directly with the audience, giving the already surreal play a staring-into-the-camera quality reminiscent of “The Office.”

“It’s a pretty meta play, which is awesome,” Olds said. “This is one of the most modern scripts we’ve done in a long time. It’s funny as hell. And it’s just a great time.”

According to St. John, “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” is “different, it’s new, and it teaches Hillsdale how to watch shows that change things up.”

But in the words of Olson’s Einstein, “How many opinions can the world hold? A billion? A trillion?” Come watch the Tower Players’ “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” and form one for yourself.