Mars Harmon, Asst. Photo Editor
During the 2008-2009 academic year, Denison put on the play “Picasso at the Lapin Agile.” This was the year before Cheryl McFarren, associate professor of theatre, joined the faculty.
Now, 17 years later, McFarren directs the same show during her final semester at Denison. This show is a comedy, featuring many fictional characters, created by the playwright and comedian Steve Martin.
Martin imagines a 1904 Parisian bar where young Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein—“on the brink of changing art and science forever”—spar, flirt, and philosophize with a diverse cast of characters. Einstein discusses his now infamous theory of relativity, and Picasso has the idea for his painting, “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.”
“I think that I have been able to let go a little bit more… Sometimes, I have been known to be a little bit controlling,” said McFarren. She said during this production, she attempted to ignore her perfectionist impulses and allow the students to shape the play themselves.
Throughout the course of the production, students created an Instagram account with the purpose of bringing Steve Martin to Denison to see it. The Instagram account is
@picasso4stevemartin.
“I will be surprised if [Martin comes], and then we’ll have the problem of getting him a seat because it’s sold out. But I think it’s rather sweet; here’s this play from the ‘90s and they’ve glomped onto it, made it their own, and want to share it with someone who’s been a role model,” said McFarren.
Nicole Cohen-Sabban ‘26, a physics and politics and public affairs major, who played Einstein, takes her last bow as in this play. “I am a senior non-theatre major, so I was excited to take this opportunity in my last semester at Denison, and I think it really paid off,” said Cohen-Sabban.
“Nicole, who plays Einstein, is a physics major. That was really neat. I could tell, even in initial readings, that there was a level of scientific awareness that she brought to speaking these lines, and that they made sense,” McFarren said.
“Picasso at the Lapin Agile” took place within the Hylbert Family Studio Theatre, which is a small performance space where the audience is close to the performers.
“I loved being so close to the audience! Most of the time when I have performed, the audience has been so far away and almost invisible with the bright stage lights. With the close audience, it really tested my ability not to break character. Overall, it was really fun to see audience reactions close up,” said Malvina Lubanski ‘28, a psychology major who played Picasso.
The decision to have the audience close to the performers was a purposeful one.
“We decided very early. This was an idea that Camille [Lerner] had early on. She was like, ‘Oh, what if we made it into a bar?’…We collaborated around that,” McFarren said.
Camille Lerner, theatrical designer at the Eisner Center, did the scenic and costume design for this show.
When asked about what McFarren wanted in this show, she answered, “I want it to be funny. So some of it has been trying to teach the practical skills of landing a joke from the stage to the actors.”
This comedy aspect of the show was achieved, in part, through the actors.
“In my experience, this has been one of the few times where I have participated in a comedy-heavy production,” Lubanski said. “Knowing this, I went into rehearsals knowing that there would be a lot of changes, adjustments, and differing views on how certain jokes would land. Considering this, I think it really aided in my skills as an actress, and it was so interesting and fun to be a part of.”
She goes on to explain how the bond of the cast aided the show’s success. “The individuals I worked with were funny, but also dedicated to making the flow of the show consistent and enjoyable. The comedy was a group effort, and the flexibility and humor of my castmates are what truly brought the show to life.”