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 image, music, videos and historical events from 1937 to 2012, “Picasso Presents Gernika” considers the connections between war, art and human suffering. It had its first staged-reading 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.

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.