We think of Picasso and Einstein as they are portrayed after they had achieved historical figure status: Picasso, thin, balding and beak-nosed; Einstein with that wild head of snow-white hair and watery spaniel eyes.

But they were young once, almost the same age in fact, with Einstein born in 1879, Picasso in 1881.

At the dawn of the 20th century they were young men, full of life and brimming with youthful enthusiasm. Imagine if they had met in a Parisian bar, circa 1904 . . .

That’s where we find them in “Picasso at the Lapine Agile,” a play written by comedian Steve Martin, opening Jan. 19 at the Bainbridge Performing Arts.

Director Kate Carruthers said, “This play portrays Picasso and Einstein as young bucks. Picasso in particular realized quite young the power he had over women.”

The “young bucks” are played by Brandon Belieu, as Picasso, and Ned Thorne, as Einstein.

The two are accomplished actors, with Belieu appearing last season in “Kiss Me Kate” at BPA and in the independent production “That Was Then. . . This Is Now.”

He announced to the cast Thursday night that he had been accepted as an acting intern at Seattle’s Fifth Avenue Theater for the production of “Wonderful Town,” opening March 21.

Thorne earned a degree in theater from Whitman College and is planning a move to New York after this production ends.

While Thorne plays Einstein as a befuddled but lovable math nerd, Belieu takes full artistic license to play Picasso-as-Casanova with Steve Martin manic buffoonery. And both of them dance a mean tango.

The play is set in a Left Bank cabaret, the Lapine Agile, at a time when art and science were brimming with creativity and genius. The play examines that relationship, and as Carruthers said, “Genius is really the same, whether it’s art or science. They are both artists on the verge of something.”

Picasso is on the verge of starting the Cubist movement in art, while Einstein is working on his landmark theory of relativity. For all that brain power, they seem to have a lot of energy left over for hanky panky.

The first half of the first act features the young and in love Suzanne, played by Rose Mackey, mooning over Picasso and the magical spell he has cast over her, while she awaits his arrival. Talk of the young artist fills the air and the anticipation builds until Picasso makes his grand entrance.

As you would expect from the comedic genius Martin, the dialogue is sharp and witty, careening from silly to surrealistic and almost over the top.

Sharing the cabaret with the young geniuses are the owners, Freddy and Germaine, played by Bart Berg and Bonnie Wallace; aging ladies man Gaston, played by Steve Parsons; and art dealer Sagot, played by Brian Danzig.

Other characters making an appearance are Schmendeman, Fred Saas; Countess, BryAnn Bingham; Female admirer, Erica Varga; and Justin Lynn playing a surprise guest at the Lapine Agile.

Carruthers said Martin got the idea for the play after viewing Picasso’s oil painting, “At the Lapin Agile,” which recently sold at auction for $41 million. One hundred years ago, it hung tacked unceremoniously behind the bar at the very same establishment. The painting is the backdrop of the BPA poster for the play, and features Picasso in a harlequin costume, with Freddy and Germaine in the background.

The play pokes fun at the world of art as business, with the art dealer Sagot hovering around Picasso, hoping to snatch a painting for a song. When Suzanne shows him a Cubist sketch the artist made of her, he sniffs, “You should have gotten it signed.”

A running joke in the play centers around a tacky painting of “sheep and clouds.”

Sagot expounds that there are only two kinds of paintings you can’t sell: “Sheep and Jesus.”

His explanation of why people don’t want art of Jesus in their homes is classic Steve Martin, quick, clever and more than a little ribald.

The pace of “At the Lapine Agile” is helped along by the lively accompaniment of The Bluefish Tango Orchestra, sandwiched into what could be called the “orchestra closet.”

Carruthers, a lawyer by day, has been involved in nearly every aspect of theater at BPA over the past 20 years, but this marks her debut as the director of a mainstage theater season production.

Carruthers feels the play fits well with the organization’s mission to educate.

“It’s smart and entertaining and it’s about art and science and their relative (excuse the pun) importance in each of our lives,” she wrote in her director’s notes.

“Picasso at the Lapine Agile” opens with a Pay-What-You-Can preview, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 19, and continues with shows 7:30 p.m. Jan. 20, 21, 26, 27 and 28, and 3 p.m shows Jan. 22 and 29, at The Playhouse, 200 Madison Ave. N, Bainbridge Island.

Tickets are $18 adults, $15 seniors and $9 students, available at the box office, by phone at (206) 842-8569 and online at www.theplayhouse.org. wu