The year is 1884, and on the Island of La Grande Jatte the painter sketches his mistress, Dot. As George sketches, Parisians in the park go about their Sunday lives. George's successful artist friend, Jules, and his wife remark as they pass on how George's art has "no life." Obsessed with this painting, George neglects the human subject at its center, and Dot, now carrying their child, decides that she must end the relationship for a reliable baker named Louis, who wishes to marry her. For the last time, she returns to the park where he sketches to tell George they will be moving to America. As Act I draws to a close, George's subjects seem destined to chaos, when the painter takes control, transforming the scene forever into a tableau of order and harmony.

As Act II begins, the year is 1984 and the American artist named George exhibits his latest work: "Chromolume #7," commemorating the centennial of his great-grandfather's masterpiece—now part of this museum's collection, four thousand miles away from the island in the Seine. George's grandmother Marie is here, too, on this occasion to share memories of her father with the gathered patrons, critics and museum staff. George wrestles with his own demons, uncertain he will ever again find the artistic inspiration of his earlier work. Invited to France to bring his Chromolume #7 to the island where his great-grandfather once re-imagined the Sunday lives of the Parisians, George takes with him a single remnant of family history—Dot's book of grammar rules, where she long ago jotted down her lover's words and imperatives of painting. For the first time understanding his great-grandfather's words, George imagines the artist's blank canvas.

The Cast
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The Creative Team
See who’s who on the creative team—the director, designers and other artists who contribute to the creation of the world of the play.