Begoña Echeverria’s PICASSO PRESENTS GERNIKA

To mark the death of Francisco Franco on this day in 1975

and the installation of Guernica in Madrid in 1981

On April 26, 1937, Hitler’s Condor Legion bombed Gernika, the sacred city of the Basques. Terrified, a mother sends her children to England—but only sees one of them ever again. Picasso paints his anti-war masterpiece Guernica, vowing never to display it in Spain until democracy returns—he dies before this happens. Interweaving fictionalized characters with images, music, videos and historical events from 1937 to 2012, “Picasso Presents Gernika” considers the connections between war, art and human suffering. A reading first staged at Chino Community Theatre in May 2019, and the play continues to resonate powerfully (though unfortunately) with current refugee and human rights crises.

One performance only to support the Santa Monica Playhouse Keep the Doors Open Campaign.

Written by Dr. Begoña Echeverria, directed by Dr. Annika Speer, featuring Lillyanna Lopez; Maksil Lorenzo; Bella Merlin; Kai Perillo; Jeff Richards; Blessin Simpson; and Natalia Toher. Gernika graphic design by Diana Hyatt.

The Santa Monica Playhouse Benefit Series is an innovative program that presents extremely limited engagements of new and developing works by emerging and renowned local, national and international artists. Solo shows, concerts, spoken word and poetry nights, dance evenings, performance art and full productions, give voice to new material and artists who might otherwise not have a platform for their works.

Santa Monica Playhouse programs are supported in part by generous grants from the City of Santa Monica and the Santa Monica Arts Commission, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, and by Playhouse PALS.