STEVE MARTIN - STEVE MARTIN RESPONDS TO BANNING OF HIS PLAY

STEVE MARTIN RESPONDS TO BANNING OF HIS PLAY

After learning that his critically acclaimed play Picasso at the Lapin Agile had been banned at a high school in La Grande, OR, Steve Martin has written to the local newspaper offering to pay for the production of his play off-campus. In a letter to the editor of the La Grande Observer that appeared Friday, Martin wrote that his play, which imagines a meeting between Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein, was intended to explain "the similarity of the creative process involved in great leaps of imagination in art and science." Although the play has been performed without incident at other high schools, 137 La Grande parents signed a petition, circulated by one of them, objecting to its content, leading the local school board to ban it. Martin said that he wanted to prevent the play "from acquiring a reputation it does not deserve." It won the 1996 New York Outer Critics' Circle Awards for best play and best playwright.

16/03/2009