Herbert Siguenza Stars In Workshop Production Of A Weekend With Pablo Picasso

San Diego Repertory Theatre presents The Workshop Production Of A Weekend With Pablo Picasso starring Herbert Siguenza. This unforgettable workshop production begins in previews on March 21, 2010, with an Opening Night on March 26, 2010 and continues through April 11, 2010.

Art that revolutionized the 20th Century comes to life at The Lyceum Theatre as distinguished actor/writer Herbert Siguenza performs and paints on stage during San Diego Repertory Theatre’s workshop production of A Weekend With Pablo Picasso. Though he is best known for his comedic work with the Latino performance troupe, Culture Clash, Siguenza was first a visual artist. His new one-man tour-de-force allows him to demonstrate his unparalleled writing, acting and visual art skills, as he takes on the role of legendary artist Pablo Picasso.

A Weekend With Pablo Picasso invites audiences into Picasso’s private studio for an intimate and revealing weekend, as he prepares to deliver six new works of art to a buyer on Monday morning. Directed by REP Associate Artistic Director Todd Salovey, A Weekend With Pablo Picassofeatures a set designed by Giulio Perrone, with original music by Bruno Louchouarn and a visual landscape of Picasso’s paintings with projections by Victoria Petrovich.

Picasso was the first rock star artist. His wild creations gripped the public imagination and forever changed 20th century art. He enraged and engaged the intelligentsia with his flamboyant and controversial opinions. As a young boy, Herbert Siguenza was given a photo album of Pablo Picasso at work in his studio. Stunned by the playfulness and creative freedom of the 77-year old artist, he told his mother: “When I grow old I want to live like this man.” His one-man show A Weekend With Pablo Picasso will reveal the artist’s proclamations about children, war, creativity, ambition, destruction, cubism, God, love, hate, beauty, friendship, patriotism, eternity, and art as an agent of social change.

Picasso once said, “Everything you can imagine is real.” Aiming to capture onstage the mercurial soul and contradictory creations of Picasso, Siguenza will sing, clown, paint, dance, draw, sculpt, impersonate mythical creatures and lead the audience through Picasso’s revealing critique of modern art.

Because Picasso said that his art was his autobiography, this new workshop production will include live and projected images of art from Picasso and his contemporaries. A Weekend With Pablo Picasso puts audiences inside Picasso’s “Le Californie” art studio on the coast of France and inside the creative mind and work of one of the most inspiring artists of modern history.

Herbert Siguenza (Pablo Picasso, Playwright) is a founding member of Culture Clash, the country’s most prominent Chicano/Latino performance troupe. The nation’s leading regional theaters including the Mark Taper Forum, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center and The Goodman Theatre in Chicago, among others, has produced the group’s work. Along with partners Montoya and Salinas, Siguenza has performed and or co-written: The Mission, A Bowl of Beings, S.O.S.-Comedy for These Urgent Times, Unplugged, Capra Clash, Radio Mambo: Culture Clash Invades Miami, Bordertown, The Birds, Nuyorican Stories, Anthology, Mission Magic Mystery Tour, Anthems: Culture Clash in the District, Chavez Ravine, Senor Discretion Himself, Culture Clash in AmeriCCa, Zorro in Hell, Water & Power, Peace and Palestine New Mexico. In 2003, Siguenza wrote and starred in Cantinflas!, a tribute to Mexico’s greatest comedic film star considered one of the greatest comics of the 20th Century. Siguenza has a BFA in printmaking from CCAC. He is currently teaching and directing at UC Irvine and is a mayor appointed Commissioner for the city of Los Angeles.

Todd Salovey (Director) is in his 20th season as the REP’s Associate Artistic Director. Mr. Salovey has directed many acclaimed REP shows including Doubt, The Blessing of a Broken Heart, which he also adapted, Brooklyn Boy, the world premiere of Yehuda Hyman’s The Mad Dancers, Hamlet starring Jefferson Mays, Uncle Vanya and Death of a Salesman starring Michael Genovese, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, King Lear, The Illusion, Uncle Vanya, The Dybbuk, The Imaginary Invalid, Three Hotels, and A Christmas Carol. He is on the acting faculty at the University of California, San Diego, where he has directed Six Characters in Search of an Author, and Stage Door. Mr. Salovey is the artistic director of the Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Arts Festival which commissions new work exploring Jewish traditions in contemporary artistic forms. He produces many REP surround events, including Talkin’ Theatre with Todd

There are multiple events surrounding A Weekend With Pablo Picasso. Visit the San Diego Repertory Theatre website for more information on those events as well as ticket and performance information.

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