Schenectady’s Classic Theater Guild takes on Steve Martin’s absurdist comedy ‘Picasso at the Lapin Agile’

So Pablo Picasso, Albert Einstein and a time-traveling stranger in suspicious blue suede shoes walk into a bar …

In a nutshell, that’s the premise behind “Picasso at the Lapin Agile,” the absurdist comedy that Schenectady’s Classic Theater Guild will present over the next two weekends at Congregation Beth Israel on Eastern Parkway.

The 85-minute play, written by comedy legend Steve Martin in 1993 and then revised in 2017, imagines a chance encounter between Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein at a Parisian bar. It has all the hallmarks of Martin’s trademark brand of humor — a combination of biting intelligence, slapstick silliness and surprising depth.

“I actually performed in it myself, back in 2011, with a defunct theater group,” said director and CTG vice president Michael Silvia. “When I was submitting to direct plays here I came across the script again and I was like, ‘Oh, this would be really good.’ It fits this venue, and also, you know, a little bit of escapist entertainment for our times while also giving a little bit of food for thought at the same time.”

Mike Reynolds, who plays Einstein, has experience with the material, having played the role of Sagot in the play previously in Kansas City. A relative newcomer to the area, Reynolds’ first foray into Capital Region theater was a reading of an original play for which Silvia was also in the cast.

When the original actor cast to play Einstein was unavailable, Silvia approached Reynolds, who relished the opportunity to take on the show in a new way.

“It’s a heck of a part,” Reynolds said. “I mean, when you’re playing it you have to not be Einstein because, number one, no one can be Einstein. Number two, there’s not a lot of research I can do. Albert Einstein never wrote, ‘You know, this is what I was thinking and how I came about it.’ So I play him as a human being who just has a lot of talents in this area.”

J. Scala plays the title character. While Pablo Picasso doesn’t show up until about halfway through the play, Scala said his presence looms large.

And when he does show up? Well, it’s not exactly what you’d expect.

“It’s this very titanic figure as people might think of as Picasso the artist, and then I come in and my first line is, ‘I’ve been thinking about sex all day,’ ” Scala said. “You kind of get to know Picasso the human being, who was a flawed human being in many ways, especially in the ways that he treated his lovers.

“My first impression of the character when I was reading the script was how passionate he was about everything. He’s always leading with his whole heart. If he hates something, he’s outwardly disgusted, he makes no bones about hiding it. And if he wants something he goes right for it. He’s just almost purely id in that sort of way. It’s been a real, real joy to play.”

It’s also been fun, Scala said, to push past his normally more reserved personality into the more bombastic, less inhibited Picasso.

“It’s fun to be uninhibited,” Scala said. “I can just kind of go for anything at this point, and Mike [Silvia] hasn’t really stopped me. There’s definitely some choices I’ve made where he could’ve told me, ‘That’s too much,’ and I haven’t heard that yet.”

“That’s the benefit of absurdist comedy,” Silvia added.

Also in the nine-performer company is Malachi Burnham, who plays Freddy, the bartender and owner of the eponymous Lapin Agile.

Burnham, a student at Schenectady County Community College — where Silvia is a tutor in the Educational Opportunity Program — had never acted before seeing Silvia’s audition notices for “Picasso at the Lapin Agile.”

In fact, he’d never even heard of Steve Martin.

But, he took a chance and is relishing his first time onstage.

“I’m a little bit nervous,” Burnham said, “but it’s been fun. Adjusting to the character role, and trying to fit what the character would be like back then, it’s fun.”

“Freddy has a lot of great one-liners in the show,” Silvia said. “I knew that Malachi could do those. He’s just got a great delivery for those.”

On this particular Tuesday night, the cast and crew were going through one of their final technical run-throughs of the show in advance of Thursday’s opening night.

A snowy day made the evening rehearsal a little less convenient, but in true “the-show-must-go-on” spirit, the cast and crew were ready to go onstage at Congregation Beth Israel, ready to work out the final kinks before the curtain goes up.

“We’re here, despite the snow,” Silvia said. “And you know, I’m sure some folks would rather not have driven in it, but we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do.”

‘Picasso at the Lapin Agile’

• When: Jan. 18, 20, 21, 25, 27 and 28 (evening shows at 7:30 p.m., Sunday shows at 3 p.m.)
• Where: Congregation Beth Israel, 2195 Eastern Parkway, Niskayuna
• Tickets: $20, available at the door or online at https://facebook.com/events/s/picasso-at-the-lapin-agile-by-/253448827594067/