Steve Martin: comedian, actor, playwright, novelist, and…first amendment activist? The multi-hyphenate may have to add this title to his job description now that he’s helping Oregon-based La Grande High School perform Picasso at the Lapin Agile after its school board canceled the production due to parents’ concerns over the play’s content. Martin, who wrote Picasso back in 1993, sent a letter to the La Grande Observer’s editor, which was published in its paper Friday, describing his intent with the play and offering a proposal to the school’s director and his cast. “I will finance a non-profit, off-the-high-school campus production (low-budget, I hope!)…so that individuals outside the jurisdiction of the school board but within the guarantees of freedom of expression provided by the Constitution of the United States, can determine whether they will or will not see the play, even if they are under 18.”
According to the Observer’s article on the decision, the school board’s superintendent canceled the show after a parent filed a complaint accompanied by a petition signed by 137 community members. The parents objected to the play’s bar locale and its sexual references. The play depicts an imaginary meeting between Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein at the Lapin Agile bar in Montmartre, Paris. The comedy has been performed professionally all over the U.S. and in quite a few high schools and colleges, too. Said Martin in his letter, “I have heard that some in your community have characterized the play as ‘people drinking in bars, and treating women as sex objects.’ With apologies to William Shakespeare, this is like calling Hamlet a play about a castle.”
La Grande’s version of Picasso at the Lapin Agile will now be performed at the McKinsey Theater at Eastern Oregon University, May 16-18. Martin will not be able to attend. “His presence will be palpable even if he can’t come,” La Grande English teacher Kevin Cahill, the director of the play, tells EW. “We will leave a seat open to him in the middle of the front row.”
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Steve Martin is a class act. That’s awesome. It would only be better if he would go see the play…. can you imagine the kids’ excitement???
When will school’s realize that by canceling and/or banning something only makes people/students even more curious as to why such actions were taken
My best friend directed me in this play last year when we were both Seniors in High School. I can’t see how anyone, parent or otherwise, could object to a PG-13ish play (at its most risque; it’s mostly PG) being performed in a school where everyone is between the ages of 14 AND 18.
Martin’s “Hamlet” line in the article is fantastic. Let’s hope it all works out in the end!
Gotta love Steve Martin… Just wish he’d stop making Pink Panther movies.
What a sad and silly thing to happen.. At first I thought this was maybe in Mississippi or Alabama or possibly South Carolina. But no – this is in Oregon, what a shame. Trust your kids, they can discern and make theirr own judgements. I encourage everyone to visit the homepage of the La Grande Observer, and let them know you do not agree by selecting “no” on their poll about this on their homepage. Found here: http://www.lagrandeobserver.com/
I guess the line has to be drawn somewhere, and this is one of those cases that was right on the line (The board voted 4 to 3). Having said that, I respect the parents that did not want their children to be in the play. I’m not a fan of hearing anyone curse, especially kids, and to have a school system ask kids to do it seems wrong. I liked the idea of cleaning up the plan and performing though. I have not read it, but it sounds like it has some good messages.
Steve, I salute you!
Whoever started that petition is a douchebag of the highest order.
TONY MULLENBURG: Here’s a wacky idea…before you post a comment about something, try reading it first. Given that you admit you’ve never read the play in question your comment is rather disingenuous. I’m willing to bet your name would be right at home with most of the adults who signed the silly petition that led to this play being banned in the first place.
It’s a beautiful, hysterical, and surprisingly yet deliciously weird play. How could anyone hate it?
What a prince.
Picasso is a blueprint acceptable play for a high school. In fact, most of the innuendo is so brainy that the school board members who voted the play down probably wouldn’t even perceive it. The bar is meant to be a modest location for a sublime event. The women in the play are smarter than the men. Every concern of theirs is truly baseless and idiotic.
I wonder how many of those kids were allowed to see Watchmen this week? I’m guessing any and all that wanted to.
Perhaps the school should have performed an innocuous classic like Romeo & Juliet. There’s nothing questionable about that play. Except for the 2 randy young teens running away and getting married. And getting it on. And murder. And drugs. And a double-suicide. Hmm, maybe this Picasso wasn’t such a bad idea…
And I wonder if they would have had the same reaction to a performance of Grease.
How ridiculous. I saw a high school production of this play at a state theatre competition when I was 10 years old, and I was hardly scarred for life by it. I remember enjoying it, even though I’m sure much of it went over my head. Kudos to Steve Martin for allowing this production to happen.
I live in La Grande and am amazed that a small minority of overprotective parents got their mom pants in a bunch over this. Their effort at censorship has backfired beautifully and the good progressive people of La Grande will see their kids challenged by intellectually stimulating material. Kudos to Steve Martin!
If a venue can be found, I’m willing to drive down from Seattle and provide lighting design and technical direction for the cost of my expenses (couch surfing is fine lodging) just to make this happen. I am a journeyman stagehand with touring lighting design experience + 22 years as a hand and numerous production-for-Broadway shows under my belt. I’m basically willing to help out for gas money becasue a show like this needs to happen.
As much as I am sorry to bring up politics, I would bet my last dollar that the “offendees” were all right wing conservative bible thumpers, down to the last signature.
This is related, and interesting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VxIH4ComAc
I wanna thank everyone for all the support, My name is jeff poe and Im part of the cast, Thanks.
What a joke! The 137 people that signed the petition need to be rounded up and sent to a concentration camp. That statement is just as outrageous as the school banning the production. It sounds as if the community would be a much better place if Stacy and her friends did move out of the district, and to other schools. Good luck trying to get a decent price for your houses in this market. I guess we’ll see how willing they are to follow through on that threat, by the amount of losses they take on their property values. Please, show us how upset you are. Teach us a lesson in ethics and morality, move away! We don’t how we’ll ever get along with out you guys, but we should be forced to suffer the humiliation of causing such upstanding citizens to move away. Shame on us, I know. By the way Stacy, ask your kids how they enjoy Southpark. It’s a great show, and it’s a cartoon, so it’s OK. Oh wait, I think they’ve also had episodes with Picasso and Einstein. They’re just 2 of the greatest mind
I guess I went over 1000 characters on the last post, read below first.
They’re just 2 of the greatest minds of all time, so it might need you to get a petition together on that one too.
Just for the record, 2 out of 3 of Stacy’s kids are “special needs” and I’m guessing that’s from her side of the family.
As for the person who actually filed the complaint with the petition, Melissa Jackman, you might want to give her a call, or write:
Melissa K. Jackman & Brett D. Jackman
3218 Union Street
LaGrande, OR 97850
541-962-9395
Here are a couple of links to check out:
http://www.classmates.com/profile/user/view/story?registrationId=43260091#profileMain
http://www.wastatepta.org/meetings/shown_brochure.pdf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VxIH4ComAc&eurl=http://larry-glaze.love.com/&feature=player_embedded
Scott – regarding your post. I think we can all disagree with the banning of it’s peformance intellectually. But to post the detail for the person who originated the complaint is just really a bottom gutter move. You, as well as all of us want to be able to claim the moral high ground on this argument… and what you just did sank it below theirs. I’m hoping ew.com will delete your post, because this isn’t about “getting poeple”. It’s about high school students who were denied the opportunity to show their maturity, good judment as well as objectivity in peforming an adult themed play. Shame on you Scott.
Scott, As the director of the production in question, I assure you that everyone associated with it deplores your comments as vile and without any place in the current debate. We don’t need support like the kind you’re offering.
KC
I tire of the argument that kids need to be protected from this. Highschool is the stepping stone to adulthood, it is the place where academically they grow their education, but also build coping skills that impact how they judge, how they interpret, and how they process real world scenarios and situations. It’s specifcally material such as this that these highschoolers should be exposed to. it allows for a controlled and supportive environment that teaches these kids how to process and react to things in the real world. It beats throwing a kid into the real world after being kept in a vacuum, isolated from potential harmful things as the detractors suggest. So no, I don’t agree with thir argument … Highschool is not about good times and care free living, it’s about teaching and learning.. and i can’t think of a better tool to do this with then the arts. If you want to keep your kids in vacuum, be my guest, it’s what private school is for.
Hey I want to thank everyone for their support of the play.I’m not a cast member, but I am a high school student who wants to wring the school board’s collective neck. I spoke at the board meeting and found that it was very one-sided. I was the only student who was allowed to speak. I think the cast members should have been allowed. However, I doubt that the outcome would have changed. The school board members had their minds made up before the meeting even began. Oh and just a FYI, did you know that all but one of the people who spoke at the board meeting that were against the play hadn’t even read the script? One guy had no idea what was going on for his information came from the Oregonian exclusively. Those who supported the all had read the script in its entirety. So my question is, how did we lose? Ignorance, fear, and people who can’t keep their noses out of other people’s business. So to the Jackman family: MYOFB- Mind Your Own F***ing Business.
To those who appose the play let me give you some advice: Get your facts straight, don’t argue redundantly, know what your arguing about, and most importantly GO CRAWL INTO A CAVE AND SIT THERE UNTIL YOU ARE READY TO COME OUT AND JOIN THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY!! Now if you don’t like the production that is going on at the high school then DONT GO!! (as if you were actually planning on going in the first place) If you call me telling you not to go to the play, if you don’t like it “Exclusionary” then get a freakin dictionary! Its not exclusion because you are more than welcome to attend but since you have a stick in places it shouldn’t be and you don’t want to, we are simply saying you don’t have to. No one is forcing you to go or to stay away. It is your choice. Now those who spoke against the play were: old, redundant, and boring. Those who spoke for the play were: Psychologists, thespians, English teachers, parents, and even ONE high school student.(ps.we have more signatures than u!)
This story made http://detentionslip.org ! The nation’s leader for crazy school house news.
As a student at La Grande High School, I would also like to extend my gratitude to Steve Martin and groups here in La Grande who are making the production of this play possible.
To my fellow students: I appreciate you as well, for standing up for yourselves (and the rest of us) and for defending our freedoms of speech and expression. However, your cause would be better served if you refrained from the childish bickering and finger-pointing you fought in the community and at the board meeting. Freedom of speech extends to everyone–even those who wanted to keep you from performing the play. If you ignore this, you do nothing for your own respectability or that of La Grande.
Also, a personal thanks to Jeanie for speaking out at the board meeting. It takes a lot of guts to look the people who run our schools in the eye and disagree with them.
That said, I am waiting eagerly for May 16, and if there are no seats left I’ll find a rail.