Actor Steve Martin will pay for an off-campus production of his play, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, which was cancelled at La Grande High School in Oregon because of parents' objections to what they called adult content. (Richard Drew/Associated Press)

Actor Steve Martin will foot the bill for an Oregon high school to stage a production of his play, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, after the show was cancelled because of parents' concerns about the play's content.

La Grande High School's production of Martin's 1993 play was called off by its school board's superintendent after a parent filed a complaint, accompanied by a petition with the signatures of 137 community members, objecting to the play's bar locale and its sexual references.

The play depicts a meeting between a young Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein in a bar in Paris. It has been performed professionally across the U.S., and by a number of high schools and colleges.

Teacher and director Kevin Cahill told the La Grande Observer newspaper that money was being raised to put the play on at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande.

Martin read about the controversy online.

"I will finance a non-profit, off-the-high-school-campus production (low budget, I hope!)" Martin wrote in a letter to the editor of the La Grande Observer that was published on Friday.

He added that he wants to keep the play "from acquiring a reputation it does not deserve."

Cahill told the Observer that money donated by Martin would be added to the funds raised locally for the play's May 16-18 run at Eastern Oregon University, and any left over would go to acting scholarships at the university.

Martin will not be able to attend the production, but Cahill told Entertainment Weekly that a seat will be held for him in the middle of the front row throughout the run.

"His presence will be palpable even if he can't come," he said.