Historian’s DVD addresses controversial ‘Picasso’ play

Published 3:19 pm Thursday, October 8, 2009

Historian Eugene Smith needed just one camera to produce his latest DVD – a camera that helped him bring one of La Grande’s most heated recent controversies into sharper focus.

Smith has produced a 72-minute DVD about the fire storm in La Grande last winter and spring ignited by the Steve Martin play “Picasso at the Lapin Agile.”

Smith’s DVD, the first in his “History Now!” DVD series, features interviews with 10 people, almost all of whom were connected to the play or closely involved in the debate over whether it should have been performed. Those interviewed include Play Director Kevin Cahill, cast members Sara Densmore and Richie Scott, La Grande School District Superintendent Larry Glaze, Observer Editor and Publisher Ted Kramer, retired LHS Principal Doug Potter, community members Linda Densmore and Melissa Jackman, La Grande School Board Chairman Merle Comfort and EOU Art Professor Jessica Plattner.

The DVD also provides a chronology of the local controversy and contains video footage of a dress rehearsal of “Picasso at the Lapin Agile.”

The new work provides an expansive look at the upheaval created after Jackman, a La Grande parent, submitted a letter to the school district asking that students not be allowed to perform “Picasso at the Lapin Agile,” at LHS because of its adult content.

Jackman’s letter of protest, submitted to Glaze, was accompanied by a supporting petition signed by 137 community members.

The play, which is about Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein meeting in a bar in 1904 just before both created their greatest works, was set to be performed April 23-25. Rehearsals had been under way about a month when the controversy erupted.

Glaze, after long hours of mulling the issue, decided to cancel the play. The controversial chapter of La Grande’s history was just beginning. Play supporters appealed. But the La Grande School Board, at a tense, volatile meeting attended by about 300 people, voted 4-3 on Feb. 25 to uphold Glaze’s decision.

Play advocates later arranged to have “Picasso” performed at EOU’s McKenzie Theatre in May but not before Martin, the well-known actor and comedian, stepped into the play fray. Martin, in a letter published in The Observer, defended his play and offered to pay for the cost of its production.

Martin’s entry into the controversy gained national and international attention. Stories about the issue appeared in newspapers throughout the United States, and the story was publicized even in England on the BBC.

The controversy went quiet following the final performance of “Picasso…” on May 18. Smith conducted all of his interviews within a month of the final performance of the play.

“It (the issue) was still fresh in their memories and their feelings were fresh,” Smith said.

Smith recorded six to seven hours of interviews before beginning the editing process. Each person he interviewed appears on the DVD.

Play supporters receive more time on the DVD than opponents. Smith said this is because supporters touched on more points in defending the play than opponents did in objecting to it.

Smith, who wrote a letter published in The Observer supporting the play, created the DVD with an “eye for the potential historical significance” of the play issue.

“I want to document current events as fully as possible to provide a record for future historians,” Smith said of his History Now! series.

Smith is best known to people locally as the head of the Union County History Project, which he started in 2002 and operated until early this year.

A major component of the project are oral histories of longtime Union County residents produced by Smith with help from community members. Forty-five oral histories were edited and published through the Union County History Project. Twenty-two of these oral histories are supplemented by video tour DVDs. The DVDs show the places residents talked about in their oral histories and contain comments from them.

Smith’s works also include a DVD documenting the career of well-known author Bill Gullick, a long-time Northwest resident who now lives in Oklahoma City.

Smith’s “Picasso” DVD, put out by his Oak Street Press Video Productions, is titled “A Video Documentary on A Community Controversy about a Proposed Production of the Play: Picasso at the Lapin Agile.” Copies are $6 each. Information on purchasing one can be obtained by calling Smith at 541-962-7951.