Piper is:
- Free High Quality Summer Theatre.
- Opportunities for emerging Artists.
- A nurturing and exciting education program for children.
Ten years. Ten Julys. Piper was created by the siblings, John and Rachel McEneny to fulfill these dreams. Now after 15 professional productions, 17 youth productions, hundreds of acting classes, and thousands of audience members: Piper returns again and will rise again this July with new actors, new directors, the most exciting drama summer program for young people in all of Brooklyn, and thrilling free theatre experiences for families.
This year Piper embraces our community’s rich history and love of great writers. On our main stage, will be presenting the world premiere of The Nocturnes by of one mystery’s greatest new voices, John Connelly. Our second stage production is the classic, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.
The Nocturnes
On our mainstage, a chilling world premiere inspired by the ghostly tales of one mystery’s greatest new voices, John Connelly.
Directed by Nigel Williams.
July 8, 9, 15, 16, 21, 22
8:30 pm
Old Stone House/Washington Park
A dark summer night of tales of lost lovers, witches, and demons. Perfect for audience members looking for a powerful night of mystery and physical theater.
Irish author John Connelly introduced the character of Charlie Parker, a former policeman hunting the killer of his wife and daughter in 1999 with Every Dead Thing – the first of many best-selling Charlie Parker stories. In 2003, Mr. Connelly published his fifth novel—and first stand-alone book—Bad Men. In 2004, Nocturnes, a collection of novellas and short stories was added to the list. Mr. Connelly’s seventh novel, The Book of Lost Things, about fairy stories and the power that books have to shape our world and our imaginations, was published in September 2006, followed by The Reapers in 2008 and The Lovers in 2009.
Of Mice and Men
by John Steinbeck
Directed by David Miller
July 10, 11, 17, 18, 23, 24
8 pm
Old Stone House/Washington Park
Piper is proud to present a stage adaptation from one of America’s most important writers. This captivating tale of two traveling workers, George and Lennie, illuminates their quest for the American dream. But as all too often happens, "the best laid schemes o' mice and men" go awry in this timeless American masterpiece.
“In every bit of honest writing in the world there is a base theme. Try to understand men, if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and nearly always leads to love. There are shorter means, many of them. There is writing promoting social change, writing punishing injustice, writing in celebration of heroism, but always that base theme. Try to understand each other." – John Steinbeck in his 1938 journal entry
The Living Series 2010: Making a Living
A one act festival for emerging writers.
June 18, 19, 20
7 pm
BAX/Brooklyn Arts Collective in Park Slope, Brooklyn
Piper is proud to present our first festival of original plays by emerging playwrights; a series of plays will be produced that investigate the connections (or disconnections) between people’s identities and their “occupations”. How much does what we do make us who we are?
12 original one-act shows (10 minutes – 30 minutes) will be performed.
Visit the BAX web site at www.bax.org.
Email Rachel with questions or concerns at rachel@pipertheatre.org.
re:Definition
Devised and performed by Nikkole Salter and Glenn Gordon.
June 26th
8 pm.
Old Stone House
A one-night only performance by Nikkole Salter (Obie and Helen Hayes award winning actress for Into the Continuum) and Glenn Gordon on the theme of identity, inspired by their experiences working with students from The Legacy Program – a workshop launched at MS 51 two years ago, and funded by Piper Theatre Productions. Nine middle school students create a theater piece on the theme of identity -- how is one’s self image shaped through the prism of slavery? How do African American children see themselves in the age of Obama? The piece culminates with students opening their DNA test results – sometimes to astonishing discoveries.
www.nikkolesalter.com
www.continuumproject.org
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HISTORY of Piper
2000 - 2010
Piper Theatre Productions is a not for profit theatre company created by siblings, Rachel and John P. McEneny, in order to offer free and accessible dynamic theatre for families. In the summer of 2001, with the help of Hudson River Arts and Reverend S. Burt Ulrich, Piper made our home in Untermyer Park in Yonkers, NY and then in 2005 moved operations to J.J. Byrne Park (now Washington Park) at the historic Old Stone House.
In the hot Summer of 2002 with the help of actors, Bruce Sabbath, Elaine Bianchi, Sean Moran, Joey Giambatista, Declan Ford, Jessica Hester, Robbie Hothern, Joe Laurerio, Cathy Decker; the fledgling Piper Theatre Company presented our inaugural production of MacBeth. For five years, Piper produced free equity showcase Shakespearean productions including Hamlet (dir. J. McEneny) & The Tempest (dir. Cecilia Rubino) in 2002, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (dir. J. McEneny) & Taming of the Shrew (dir. Cecilia Rubino) in 2003, Othello (dir. J. McEneny) in 2003, and Twelfth Night (dir. J. McEneny) in 2004. Piper was awarded the Arts Alive ‘Theatre of Distinction’ by the Westchester Arts Council in spring ’03. Piper also created a dynamic youth productions with Yonkers teenagers in As You Like It (dir. Moggie Spear) in 2003, Romeo and Juliet (dir. J. McEneny) in 2004, and MacBeth (dir. J. McEneny) in 2005. Piper’s productions also performed in the Yonkers Riverfront Public Library, and the towns of Irvington and Mamakating.
In the summer of 2005, Piper moved to Brooklyn with the invitation from Kim Maier and the historic Old Stone House. The education programs were expanded to include over eighty children with youth productions of Midsummer (dir. Ezra Barnes) and A Winter’s Tale (dir. J. McEneny). Piper also added a very popular grammar school education program that would grow over the next three years under the leadership of Ilana Dogim. The first show at the Old Stone House was the comedy, Much Ado About Nothing (dir. Cecilia Rubino) in the summer 2006. Following that successful year, Piper expanded in 2007 further; the education program now included four youth productions; Romeo and Juliet (dir. Wendy Peace), Twelfth Night (dir. Ezra Barnes), MacBeth (dir. Thomas Hoagland), and Hamlet (dir. J. McEneny). The mainstage production was MacBeth (dir. J. McEneny). In 2008, Piper grew dramatically. The education program swelled to almost a hundred children. The focus switched from Shakespeare to classic texts. Lord of the Flies (dir. Michael Buffer), Alice in Wonderland (dir. Ryan Healey), The Witches (dir. Rachel McAlinn), and Dracula (dir. J. McEneny). The main stage production of Midsummer had a cast of more than thirty actors and our audience was packed each night. For the summer of 2009, Piper added and an film class to our already popular drama programs. The mainstage production was Hamlet (dir. J. McEneny) and a second stage production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard (dir. Thomas Hoagland). The youth productions were Lilith (devised & dir. Michael Buffer), Three Musketeers (dir. J. McEneny), Peter Pan (dir. Rachel McAlinn), Holes (dir. Scott Raker), and Our Town (dir. Ryan Healey).
This summer, the tenth year of Piper, we embrace our community’s rich history and love of great writers. On our main stage, will be presenting the world premiere of The Nocturnes by of one mystery’s greatest new voices, John Connelly directed by Nigel Williams, an exciting director who we are bringing over from the highlands of Scotland. Our popular second stage production on Sunday nights will be the classic, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, directed by David Miller. The education shows will include Piper’s first musical , Little Shop Horrors (dir.by Ryan Healey) as well as Witch’s Children (written and dir. by J. McEneny), Peer Gynt (devised and directed by Scott Raker), and Taming of the Shrew (dir. by Michael Buffer).
Since 2000, Piper has been committed
To creating free accessible and dynamic theatre for families.
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To creating opportunities for emerging artists,
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And creating a safe and nurturing theatre experience for children.
Actors/Artists who have worked with Piper Theatre Productions include:
Lauren Adler Katz, Virginia Avetisian, Kesh Baggan, Jessica Bates, Claudia Berring, Elaine Bianchi, Ezra Barnes, Matthew Bondy, Art Bonnano, Michael Buffer, Owen Campbell, Tobias Campbell, Chris Cariker, Sam Caravaglia, Deborah Carlson, John Chilemi, Francesca Choy-Kee, Andrew Christian, Eric Christian, Melinda Craig, Ashton Crosby, Kelley Curran, Jennifer Damiano, Amelia Drezinski, Laura Dillman, Ashley Disciullo, Beth Elliott, Richard Fitzgerald, Ed Fohzo, Duncan Forbes, Declan Ford, Zoe Frazer, Alison Friedland, Shanara Gabrielle, Joey Giambatista, Raul Garcia, Dylan Gilbert, Courtney Gilly, Darrell Glasgow, Josh Gleb, Sean Grady, William Growney, Lou Gruber, Ryan Healey, Jessica Hester, Celeste Hines, Thomas Hoagland, Dan Jacobson, Jennifer Johannes, Dede Kavanaugh, Andy Landsman, Joe Laueriero, Carl Louis, Will Lucas, Matt Luceno, Myles Angus MacVane, Jonathan Marks, Tracy McAllister, Dan McMahon, Corey Michner, Sean Moran, Amy Murphy, Shannon Noecker, Eliora Noetzel, Anne Marie Norberto, Aaron Novak, Dana O’Brien, Jack O’Brien, Masataka Odaki, Shawn Orbin, Wendy Peace, Robyn Pearl, Arlene Penn, Will Petre, Tommy Philp, Sean Phillips, Lisa Pines, Thomas Piper, Eric Potempa, Liz Rebert, Kati Rediger, Jeremy Risch, Matthew Rini, Brandi Rhome, Cecilia Rubino, Kyle Runestad, Caroline Ryburn, Nikkole Salter, Adam Samtur, Kim Sava, Rosa Schneider, Elizabeth Sciacca, Christine Siegel, Matt Steiner, Ali Stover, Michael Strong, Greg Sullivan, Robert Tarry, Ross Tatum, Ian Temple, Lilia Trenkova, Fiore Terraciano, Francesco Tisch, Karen Tumulty, Melissa Vigado, Chloe Wakefield, Joe Willens, Olivia Virta, Andrew Yee.
Piper Board 2010
Chip Blazer
Ann Carlson
Yanki Chen Gruben
Laura DeCarlo
Beth L. Prather
Rachel Rear
Piper Theatre Productions is a 501C3 not for profit theatre company.
