Mugford Street Players to Perform "A Picasso" at Marblehead Little Theatre

Jeffrey Hatcher’s A Picasso - Set in a vault under the streets of German-occupied Paris in 1941, A Picasso pits the famous artist against Miss Fischer, a cultural attaché from Berlin, who must determine if paintings recently confiscated by the Nazis are real–or fake–Picassos. Only the artist can tell for sure…but will he? A tango of sex, politics and power ensues…with a twist.

The show runs March 1 - 12. Performance time 7:30 with matinees on Sundays at 3PM. Production to take place at Marblehead Little Theatre – 12 School Street, Marblehead. Ticket prices are: Adults: $25, Seniors & Students: $20. Tickets at www.mltlive.org

MARBLEHEAD’S MUGFORD STREET PLAYERS PRESENTS JEFFREY HATCHER’S PROVOCATIVE DRAMA A PICASSO

Art brushes with politics in A Picasso!

Mugford Street Players (MSP) of Marblehead will present Jeffrey Hatcher’s cat-and-mouse suspense drama A Picasso for 10 performances from March 1 to March 12 in the MLT Firehouse Theater at 12 School Street in Marblehead. MSP Artistic Director John Fogle of Marblehead directs the production.

Set in a vault under the streets of German-occupied Paris in 1941, A Picasso pits the famous artist against Miss Fischer, a cultural attaché from Berlin, who must determine if paintings recently confiscated by the Nazis are real–or fake–Picassos. Only the artist can tell for sure…but will he? A tango of sex, politics and power ensues…with a climactic twist.

A society renowned for fostering artistic freedom is suddenly under the jackboot of a paranoid occupying power at its most oppressive. In A Picasso, playwright Jeffrey Hatcher asks…what is the value of art in a world going to hell?

Originally presented at the Salem Theatre Company (STC) in 2012 - where it was a sell-out success - director Fogle has reunited the same on-stage and off-stage creative team for this MSP production.

“A Picasso was the only production to be extended due to popular demand at STC during my five-year tenure there as Artistic Director,” director Fogle reports. “And still so many people who wanted to see it were unable to get a seat. We’re happy to provide a second chance in a larger theatre!”

The two-character play features actors Stephen Cooper of Marblehead and Linda Goetz of Newton. Chuck Baker of Salem serves as Stage Manager, Bruce Greenwald, Gregory Mancusi-Ungaro and Thomas Saltsman of Marblehead will design the set, lighting and sound respectively, with Linda Ross Girard of Salem designing costumes.

One of America’s most widely produced playwrights, Jeffrey Hatcher’s many award-winning plays have been performed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regionally across the US and abroad. Some of his plays include Three Viewings, Scotland Road, Neddy, Korczak's Children, Mercy of a Storm, Work Song: Three Views of Frank Lloyd Wright and Lucky Duck. Hatcher wrote the book for the Broadway musical Never Gonna Dance and the musical, ELLA.

Tickets are available online at www.mltlive.org or can be reserved for pick-up at the box office by emailing stagefog@gmail.com. Online ticketing ends 24 hours in advance of each performance. Ticket prices are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors and students.

The New York Daily News calls A Picasso "artful, remarkable and genuinely dramatic, with impressive sensitivity and wit." —NY Daily News.

Note: Following the Sunday, March 5 matinee, there will be a talk back with the audience, actors and dramaturge Lauren Fogle Boyd, author and historian, to discuss “Art & the Nazi” and the confiscation of art during WWII.

ABOUT THE MUGFORD STREET PLAYERS (MSP)

The Mugford Street Players was founded in 1975 at its original home, the Unitarian-Universalist Church on Mugford Street in Marblehead. Since then, MSP has presented more than 60 productions in a variety of North Shore venues. Recent productions include Death of a Salesman, Alphabetical Order, The Weir, The Dresser, The Wind in the Willows, How I Learned to Drive, The Visit, Molly Sweeney and The Trip to Bountiful. MSP exists to provide challenging, thought-provoking theatre for residents of Marblehead and the entire North Shore – and to serve the artistic ambitions of its members. Director driven, our play selection tends toward the offbeat, even the obscure. Free of any set production schedule, our audiences can be sure that each production is a pure labor of love.