Expanding our World


this is not a true story

Check out Carolina Do’s theatre company,  The Sống Collective, who will be presenting a staged reading of THIS IS NOT A TRUE STORY by Preston Choi. 

Monday, December 16th, 2019 @ 7 PM 

Theaterlab
357 West 36th Street
Third Floor
NYC, NY 10018

$15 donation requested

Carolina produced Garrett Kim’s Piper Spotlight and is also an Associate Board Member.


A COCKTAIL PARTY SOCIAL EXPERIMENT

Question – Can we create an analog experience in which a group of strangers can get to know each other in a deeper and more meaningful way? Hypothesis – Yes.  Procedure – Armed with cocktails and a party game, 8 strangers navigate a cocktail party, skip the small talk, and get into the good stuff. Come witness (and be a part of): A Cocktail Party Social Experiment.(note: 8 participants will be chosen from guests who willfully wish to participate. This event is catered for players and voyeurs alike)

A COCKTAIL PARTY SOCIAL EXPERIMENT

Monday, December 16th, 2019 @ 6PM

Chelsea Music Hall
407 West 15th Street
NYC, NY 10011


General Admission tickets include a welcome cocktail.  GET TICKETS


Wil Petry played Lysander in Piper’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream


A Soulful Christmas

Check out Brandon Looney in A SOULFUL CHRISTMASThe creators of Mighty Real: A Fabulous Sylvester Musical, Kendrell Bowman and Anthony Wayne, reunite for this retro holiday revue of classic R&B grooves, set at the taping of a 1970s Soul Train–style TV show called Groovy Wonderland. Expect songs by the Supremes, the Jackson 5, the Temptations, and other favorites.

Saturday and Sunday, December 14th & 15th 

The Actor’s Temple Theatre
339 West 47th Street
NYC, NY 10036

GET TICKETS

Brandon Looney starred in Piper’s Priscilla Queen of the Desert.


Dakota Amar in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” @ Brooklyn Tech!

Dakota Amar, veteran Piper actor (Shrek, MacBeth, Anonymous, Lord of the Flies, Pippi, The Giver, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Hansel the Wolf…), will perform the role of Francis Flute in his debut on the Brooklyn Tech High School Stage.

All are welcome. It’s a great way to see what’s going on at BTHS.
Tickets ($10) available at the door! 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Wednesday, Nov. 13th @ 4:30 PM 
Thursday, Nov. 14th @ 4:30 PM
Friday, Nov. 15th @ 6:00 PM
ALL AGES

About A Midsummer Night’s Dream 

Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Christina Massie

Brooklyn Tech’s production reimagines this classic by setting it to a 1980’s soundtrack and relocating it to Brooklyn and Staten Island. 

In the original, “residents of Athens mix with fairies from a local forest, with comic results. In the city, Theseus, Duke of Athens, is to marry Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons. Bottom the weaver and his friends rehearse in the woods a play they hope to stage for the wedding celebrations.

Four young Athenians are in a romantic tangle. Lysander and Demetrius love Hermia; she loves Lysander and her friend Helena loves Demetrius. Hermia’s father, Egeus, commands Hermia to marry Demetrius, and Theseus supports the father’s right. All four young Athenians end up in the woods, where Robin Goodfellow, who serves the fairy king Oberon, puts flower juice on the eyes of Lysander, and then Demetrius, unintentionally causing both to love Helena. Oberon, who is quarreling with his wife, Titania, uses the flower juice on her eyes. She falls in love with Bottom, who now, thanks to Robin Goodfellow, wears an ass’s head.

As the lovers sleep, Robin Goodfellow restores Lysander’s love for Hermia, so that now each young woman is matched with the man she loves. Oberon disenchants Titania and removes Bottom’s ass’s head. The two young couples join the royal couple in getting married, and Bottom rejoins his friends to perform the play.”

– Folger Shakespeare Library


About Christina Massie (in her own words)

“I can’t believe I have been teaching for ten years!  It has been a thrill to teach at Brooklyn Tech for four of these years.  My prior experiences before becoming a teacher are in the theatre and television where I was a stage manager.  Due to my background, I incorporate the arts heavily in the classroom. I believe creativity very often leads to success in learning.  Some projects that I have used in class that I have found success with are Shakespeare and Edgar Allen Poe presentations. With Shakespeare I get the kids to revise the text in different time periods of choice and to present their work. In addition each student has a technical job (director, costumes, sets). I find revising the text helps for interpretation and engagement. Of course I have some rules about the text. For example students must keep the character names and the plot line must stay the same. Having students have technical jobs engages those who may be a bit shy about presenting to the class. With Poe’s short stories I had students analyze and interpret a tale and adapt it to film; students created and produced their own Poe film by shooting throughout the building. I am most proud that, when exposed to the arts in my class, students often get involved in the school productions. I am happy to say many current stage works (after school club) students were in my class at one time or another. 

I predominately teach 9th grade and have taught 11th and this year am teaching one section of senior drama class.

Upon starting at Tech, I have worked on the musical productions beginning with Pink Floyd’s “The Wall,” into last years production of “Hairspray.” All theatrical productions are important; both the annual play and the musical. These shows give our kids an outlet they need to express themselves both in front of the lights and behind the scenes.  Students are able to work with all different age groups and meet people with similar interests. They learn discipline and routine, and the value of teamwork.  Collaboratively students from stage-works to performer to band member unify to make a production complete.  Without the play and musical, the community at Tech will not be the same. The Arts have had positive influences on our kids! Please save our Arts programs! We need all the support we can!”


Gareth Hogan performs @ MoMA

Congrats to long-time Piper actor (Shrek, Beauty and the Beast, Hatch, Starlings) Gareth Hogan!

Gareth is one of the featured vocalists in “Fault Lines,” happening NOW at MoMA.

Emmanuel Tsao and Gareth Hogan perform in Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla’s “Fault Lines.” Credit…Jeenah Moon for The New York Times

Fault Lines

MoMA, Floor 6

The Steven and Alexandra Cohen Center for Special Exhibitions

Two boy sopranos perform a duet amid low-slung sculptures made from stones that function as choral risers. In the span of 15 minutes, the boys hurl adversarial language at each other culled from literary sources ranging from Cicero to Shakespeare. The beauty of the music, arranged by composer Guarionex Morales-Matos, disguises the verbal forms of conflict, which evoke the tone of much political discourse today. The work’s title plays up the multiple meanings of such opposition: a fault line is a geological fracture where the movement of masses of rock has displaced parts of the earth’s crust. Here, it alludes to the tension between geological time and the brief period when the boys’ singing can reach a high pitch before their voices break, as well as the breakdown of social order.

Performers: Benjamin Barham-Wiese, David Blair, Devin Zamir Coleman, Owen Flood, Eliot Flowers, Gabriel Gurevich, Agustya Harsh, Christian Henderson, Matthew Herrera, Jarod Hirsch, Gareth Hogan, SangHoon M. Jung, Will Kramer, Luciano Pantano, Jackson Rooney, Matthew Rooney, Alex Tollit, Emmanuel Tsao, and Edward Turner

Performer instruction by National Chorale: Amy Siegler, executive director, Saffron Chung, vocal coach, Matthew Truss, vocal coach, and Guillermo Asca, movement coach


This work is presented daily, every hour from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Gareth is part of a rotating cast. 

The performances run through December, ending January 5th, 2020.

Click HERE to schedule your visit!