L.A. Theatre Works tours re-imagined production of Herbert Sigüenza’s ‘A Weekend with Pablo Picasso’

L.A. Theatre Works will tour a newly re-imagined production of A Weekend with Pablo Picasso, written and performed by Herbert Sigüenza, to venues in New Jersey, Central California and Southern California this February and March.

Venues include the Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center in Livermore, CA (Wednesday, February 21 at 7:30 p.m.); Gallo Center for the Performing Arts in Modesto, CA (Sunday, February 25 at 5 p.m.); Monmouth University Center for the Arts in West Long Branch, NJ (Saturday, March 2, 2024 at 8 p.m.); The Broad Stage in Santa Monica, CA (Friday, March 15 and Saturday, March 16 at 7:30 p.m.) and the Irvine Barclay Theatre in Irvine, CA (Sunday, March 17 at 7 p.m.).

Directed by L.A. Theatre Works senior producer Anna Lyse Erikson in the company’s signature, hybrid radio-theater style, A Weekend with Pablo Picasso invites the audience into the seminal artist’s private studio for an intimate and revealing weekend as he prepares to deliver six new works to a buyer on Monday morning.

“For this production, we’ve brought in video designers Victoria Petrovich and Omar Ramos, sound designer Mark Holden, and Foley artist Ellis Greer to create an entirely new production performed in L.A. Theatre Works’ unique style,” says Erikson. “Ellis, who has been seen and heard in many L.A. Theatre Works audio theater productions, will perform Foley in a larger-than-life way to create the world of Picasso’s studio, and she’ll also perform some of the smaller roles in the story.

Picasso was the first rock-star artist a ferocious pacifist, obsessive art maker, flamboyantly opinionated philosopher and self-proclaimed clown who relished his passionate views about love, death, war, beauty, eternity and creativity. L.A. Theatre Works previously released a state-of-the-art audio theater recording of Sigüenza’s play, which creates a joyful and mesmerizing portrait of the maestro.

“When [L.A. Theatre Works producing director] Susan Loewenberg first approached me about recording it, we wondered how we were going to translate it to audio,” Sigüenza said at the time. “But I heard it and it’s beautiful, it’s just so beautiful. They did a great job with the audio and the Foley, and the philosophy of Picasso is so profound that you just have to hear what he’s talking about.”

Best known for his acting work with performance troupe Culture Clash, Sigüenza is currently the playwright-in-residence for San Diego Repertory Theatre, where A Weekend with Pablo Picasso was developed. As a solo writer and performer he has also produced Cantinflas!, Steal Heaven, El Henry (2014 San Diego Critics Circle Award for Best New Play), Manifest Destinitis, Beachtown and Bad Hombres/Good Wives, all for San Diego Rep. An accomplished visual artist, Sigüenza has exhibited both nationally and internationally. He has a BFA in printmaking from the California College of Arts, Oakland, California. TV and Film credits include Ben Ten Alien Swarm for the Cartoon Network and the feature film Larry Crowne directed by Tom Hanks. His voice was prominently featured in Pixar’s 2017 Oscar-winning animation feature Coco.

Greer’s previous credits with L.A. Theatre Works include The Thanksgiving Play, Charles Busch’s Die Mommie Die, The Goodbye Girl, Jefferson’s Garden and national tours of Lucy Loves Desi and Seven. As a member of Antaeus Theatre Company, Geer recorded 90303: Inglewood – The Vig, an episode of “The Zip Code Plays,” and has been seen in productions of Native Son (including for Center Theatre Group’s “Block Party” remount at the Kirk Douglas Theatre), Three Days in the Country and Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Other theater credits include The Overview Effect (Contemporary American Theatre Festival), Desdemona, A play about a Handkerchief (Opera House Arts), The Matchmaker (Actor’s Co-op), The Many Women of Troy (Pallas Theatre Collective) and The Diary of Anne Frank (Oklahoma Children’s Theatre).

The L.A. Theatre Works national touring program brings audiences at venues across the country the experience of a “live-in-performance” radio drama. Since 2005, L.A. Theatre Works has visited over 300 civic, performing arts and university venues with productions ranging from Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop to L.A. Theatre Works' original docu-dramas The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial and Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers. In 2011, L.A. Theatre Works toured China with Top Secret, playing to sold out houses of Chinese professionals and students; in 2013 the production was invited back to perform at Beijing’s prestigious National Centre for the Performing Arts as well as the Tianjin Grand Theater and major venues in Hangzhou, Suzhou, Chongqing and Fuling.

For more information about the tour of A Weekend With Pablo Picasso, go to latw.org. Click here to download high-resolution photos.