A Picasso Opens January 14th at Promenade Playhouse

Los Angeles, CA (December 6, 2013) – A Picasso by Jeffrey Hatcher opens in January at the Promenade Playhouse at 1404 3rd Street Promenade, Santa Monica, 90401. The play runs Friday’s and Saturday’s at 8 p.m. on January 10th, 11th, 17th, 18th, and 31st and February 1st, 7th, 8th, 14th, and 15th. There will be a preview performance on Thursday, January 9th at 8 p.m. Opening night is Friday, January 10th, and will be followed by a reception. Tickets for A Picasso are $20 and available at:  http://www.promenadeplayhouse.com/ or by calling 323.960. 7740.  Directed by Natalia Lazarus.

This cat and mouse drama revolves around art, politics, sex, and truth. How timely, now 40 years after Picasso’s death and as Museu Picasso in Barcelona celebrates the 50th year of being open,  the intriguing relationship between art, history and politics is again in the news with the discovery recently of over 1400 paintings looted by the Nazis. Picasso’s disdain for the German occupation of Paris was often reflected in his work. In Hatcher’s A Picasso, three of Picasso’s paintings have been “confiscated” by the Nazis from their Jewish owners. The Nazi Ministry of Propaganda considers Picasso’s art degenerate and assigns a wily interrogator, Miss Fischer (Natalia Lazarus) to persuade Picasso (Vincent Lappas) to confirm the paintings are real. She tells him they are planning an exhibition but when Picasso realizes it is actually a burning, he becomes desperate to save his work by calling on all of his talents to out wit her.

Picasso has left us over 50,000 pieces of exceptional art, including 33 Picassos donated by the son of Estee Lauder, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which will be exhibited in 2014.  Additionally, a collection of paintings worth more than one billion dollars, recently discovered in Germany.  Among those original Picasso works, and those that survived not being burnt by the Nazis, are all an important element which is what the play deals with.

A Picasso BIOS:

JEFFREY HATCHER (Playwright) - wrote the stage play Compleat Female Stage Beauty, which he later adapted into a screenplay, shortened to just Stage Beauty (2004). He also co-wrote the stage adaptation of Tuesdays with Morrie, and Three Viewings. He wrote the screenplay Casanova for director Lasse Hallström, The Duchess (2008), with Keira Knightly; as well as screenplays for directors Steven Shainberg (Secretary) and Kim Pierce, (Boys Don’t Cry). He has also written for the Peter Falk TV series Columbo and E! Entertainment Television. Off-Broadway, he has had several plays produced, including, A Picasso.

Natalia Lazarus (Miss Fischer) - is a graduate of the Sorbonne University in Paris, France, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, the Film Program at New York University; with adjacent studies at the University of London, The British Film Institute and the Ned Herrmann Brain Dominance Center. She is Syd Field’s “docent” & one of the few in the world authorized to teach his screenwriting technique.   Her acting Credits include: Stage: A Picasso, The Dreamer Examines His Pillow, The Runner Stumbles, Frida Kahlo, Malcolm & Teresa, Chilean Holiday, Not the Fifth the Ninth! Film: Across the Line, Hanging With the Homeboys, Portrait of a Puerto Rican, Touchstone, Maria Cristina, Side Bets, Love It Is. TV: Promised Land, On Common Ground, Passions, The Young & The Restless, The Bold & The Beautiful, You Be The Judge, Reyes & Rey, and Port Charles.

Vincent Lappas (Picasso) – An L.A. native Vincent has been performing since the age of six. He received his B.A. in theater from U.S.C. and studied at Oxford University, and attended workshops with the Royal Shakespeare Co. He is proud to be a member of the Promenade Conservatory faculty and the Los Angeles Conservatory for the Performing Arts. He also served on the faculty of The Pasadena Civic Ballet, and taught theater and acting at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania and in Tokyo Japan. Television and movie credits include: Alias, One of Our Own, Mr. Saturday Night, Saving Grace, Addams Family Values. Theater: The Laramie Project, Crimes of the Heart, How to Go Out on a Date in Queens, Bobby Gould in Hell, Our Town, Suddenly Last Summer, and Blue Window. He recently portrayed the legendary playwright Tennessee Williams and is proud to reprise his role of Pablo Picasso in A Picasso.

CALENDAR LISTING INFORMATION FOR A PICASSO
 

What: A Picasso is a cat and mouse drama that revolves around art, politics, sex, and truth. Three of Picasso’s paintings have been “confiscated”, by the Nazis, from their Jewish owners. The Nazi Ministry of Propaganda assigns a wily interrogator, Miss Fischer, to persuade Picasso to confirm the paintings are real. She invites him to attend an exhibition, but when she reveals that the “exhibition”, is actually a burning, Picasso becomes desperate to save his work by calling on all of his talents.

Who: Written by Jeffrey Hatcher. Starring Vincent Lazarus & Natalia Lazarus

Directed by: Natalia Lazarus

When: Friday’s and Saturday’s in January 10th, 11th, 17th, 18th, and 31st and February 1st, 7th,  8th, 14th, and 15th. There will be a preview performance on Thursday, January 9th at 8 PM.

Where: Promenade Playhouse (1404 3rd Street Promenade, Santa Monica, 90401)

How: Tickets are $20 and available at:  http://www.promenadeplayhouse.com/ or by calling 323-960-7740

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