Sit and Spin’s debut performance, “Picasso at the Lapin Agile,” mixes genius, art and science with hilarious results.

“It’s a play that expresses the potential of our age group through humor,” says Weinberg senior Krissy Vanderwarker, who is directing the play. “It’s about recognizing the genius and potential of everyone.”

The play, written by Steve Martin and set in 1904, tells the story of artist Pablo Picasso and physicist Albert Einstein accidentally meeting in a Parisian bar and clashing wits. At first the two can’t understand what the other is trying to achieve, but gradually they come to recognize the similarity of their minds.

“They are two different artists that come together with a united vision,” says Speech senior Josh Goldbloom, who plays Einstein.

The interactions of Picasso, Einstein and the quirky characters in the bar create a fun atmosphere. Considering this is Steve Martin’s doing, humor is one of the most important elements of the play.

“It mixes all kind of humor – from bathroom potty humor to intellectual humor,” Vanderwarker says.

The play also touches upon issues that arise from interactions between men and women, as well as ideas about art and science. Picasso and Einstein are still young and struggling to make names for themselves. In this way, the play draws parallels for students who are struggling through college.

“They’re young, they’re broke and they’re a lot like us,” says Medill senior Amy Choi, who is co-producing the play.

Unlike the other student productions opening tonight on campus, “Picasso” requires audience members to do a little walking – the set for this show can be found inside the Wheaton Methodist Church on Ridge Avenue and Noyes Street.

“We walked in and it was an empty room, and we made a theater out of it,” says Weinberg sophomore Jennifer Arrington, who is co-producing the play.

Sit and Spin is a new theater group on campus, with a mission to create a place for less traditional theater and to bring that theater to new places, especially the Evanston community. The group publicized not just on campus but also in the Evanston community at large.

“We want to give Evanston an opportunity to see what students can do on their own,” Arrington says.

Part of having unconventional theater also means encouraging non-theater majors to participate in the plays.

“We want to include talents not necessarily tapped before, and therefore widen the audience,” Vanderwarker says.

Full of struggling talent and early beginnings, the play is similar to the group that is creating it. As Picasso says in the play, “You dream the impossible and find a way to bring it into effect.” nyou