Picasso at the Lapin Agile (play)
Artist: Steve Martin
Year: 2009
Date of Action: March 2009
Region: North America
Location: La Grande, Oregon
Subject:
Medium: Theatre
Confronting Bodies: La Grande shool board
Description of Artwork: "The 1993 play imagines a meeting between Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein in a Paris bar as they are on the verge of great achievements in painting and physics. It is aimed at explaining 'the similarity of the creative process involved in great leaps of imagination in art and science,' Martin said in the letter published Friday in The La Grande Observer." [1]
The Incident: The play had been approved for production when school parent Melissa Jackman gathered 137 signatures asking that the play be cancelled or Bowdlerized. In a 4-3 vote, the school board agreed with Ms. Jackman.
Results of Incident: After a letter from NCAC and a letter to the editor of the local newspaper from the playwright defending the work, the play was put on for performance at East Oregon University, with the playwright himself paying for the production costs.
Source:
• http://www.oregonlive.com/O/index.ssf/2009/05/behind_the_scenes_a_war_of_wor.html
See also: A clip of the board meeting in which it was decided that the play be banned. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VxIH4ComAc
For more information http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/29705203/ns/today-entertainment/t/show-will-go-steve-martins-dime/#.UBAgAkQxs7A
