Learn About Piper

Our Mission

Piper Theatre Productions is dedicated to producing innovative and dynamic theater, introducing young people to the theatrical arts, and providing opportunities for emerging artists to showcase their talent.

Our Vision

Piper aims to inspire and foster a sense of community through live theater experiences. The organization's vision is centered around showcasing a diverse range of plays and new works that resonate with audiences and contribute to the cultural fabric of the communities it serves.

Our Impact

Since 2000, under the leadership of John P. McEneny, Piper has successfully produced over 70 plays, 40 readings, and two films. These productions have employed hundreds of working artists in Brooklyn, and the plays have been seen by thousands. Piper has worked with generations of Brooklyn youth in our education programs, many of whom are now working professionals in theater, education, and film.

For over 24 years, Piper Theatre Productions has been dedicated to producing innovative and dynamic theater, introducing young people to the theatrical arts, and providing opportunities for emerging artists to showcase their talent.

Meet the Team

John P. McEneny

Artistic Director

John P. McEneny has taught drama for 28 years at DOE schools, He has taught Process Drama at CUNY, NYU, Vassar, University of Malta. He is the author of more than 25 Youth Plays. Graduate of MA NYU Steinhardt Theatre in Education and MA Edinburgh Napier University Creative Writing. John created Piper twenty-four years ago and has a longtime commitment to creating accessible summer stock theatre, creating celebrated youth programming, and fostering diverse and exciting emerging artists. He is in charge of mainstage programming, producing the Spotlight series for new writers, hiring creative, education, and technical teams, board recruitment and engagement, fundraising appeals and events, and creating and upholding the Piper Code of Values. Contact: john@pipertheatre.org
Justine McLaughlin

General Manager

A creative and organized professional with a diverse background in entertainment and the arts, Justine graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Theatre. Following many years in the Los Angeles film and television industry, Justine returned to the New York stage community and became program director for summer education programming and business manager for Brooklyn’s Gallery Players. In 2021, she joined Piper, where takes on leadership role of scheduling, fiscal responsibility, bookkeeping, purchases, rentals, grant writing, registration, directing the marketing efforts, and facilitating the human resource needs of the organization. A proud parent, Justine is actively involved in her children’s school community. Contact: justine@pipertheatre.org
Kimberly Maier

Executive Producer, Summer Programming

Kimberly is the Executive Director of the Old Stone House & Washington Park, as well as the Executive Producer of Piper Theatre. In addition to Piper’s residency, OSH provides rehearsal and performance opportunities for emerging professional theater companies year-round.

Board of Directors

Rachel Wood (President) is a writer and real estate agent with Halstead in Brooklyn and has lived in the Park Slope neighborhood for 35 years. Originally from Texas, Rachel was on the Board of the American Globe Theater for seven years. BA Sam Houston University.

Mickey Heller (Treasurer) has been practicing law for over thirty years, the past ten as an Administrative Law Judge for the State of New York. He has been the President of Brooklyn Pride for ten years. BS Music Ed. Hunter College and JD from Brooklyn Law School.

Nora Keane (Secretary/Head of Education Scholarships) has lived in Park Slope for nearly 30 years and been a Special Education teacher at PS 321 for the past seven years. BA Science in Psychology Baruch College, MS Early Childhood Education Hunter School of Education.

Diana Gliedman (Fundraising/Special Projects) is a writer, lawyer, parent and theater person. She has lived in Park Slope for more than 20 years. Diana is a shareholder of and member of the Executive Committee of Anderson Kill, P.C. She studied English, Theater, and Political Science at the University of Rochester and law at Fordham University School of Law.

Past Board Members

Chip Blazer
Rembert Block
Art Bonnano
Ellen Callahan
Ellen Ann Carlson
Kathy Christian
Laura DeCarlo
Stacey Duda
Richard Fitzgerald
Jim Ivey

Joan Jennings
Lauren Kehoe
Natalie Giles
Brendan Guastella
Sean Moran
Arlene Penn
Beth Prather
DeForest Raphael
Rachel Rear
Kim Sava

Lucille Sciacca
Michael Strong
Yanki Tshering
Karen Tumbelty
Margaret Vitulli
Beth Wren Elliott
Nathan Watchous
Rev. Bruce Ulrich 1932 - 2020

Artistic Advisors

Cecily O’Neill is the leading interpreter of Dorothy Heathcote’s theories of Process Drama. She has written a number of books on drama education, including Drama Worlds: A Framework for Process Drama (Heinemann, 1995), and Drama Structures: A Practical Handbook for Teachers by Alan Lambert and Cecily O'Neill (Theatrebooks, 1990). One of the foremost authorities in the field, O'Neill lectures and conducts workshops throughout the world. Her work on structuring classroom drama, her writings on pretext and process drama, and her studies on the imagination, multicultural education, and dramatic form have been influential throughout North America, Europe and Australia.

Nigel Williams has been teaching Drama and Theatre for thirty years in a variety of schools and colleges that range from an inner-city comprehensive school to a rural upper school, as Director of Drama at the prestigious Gordonstoun School in Scotland and is the former Chair of Performing Arts at Chadwick School. Nigel studied in the UK at Bristol University and trained at St. Paul's Teacher-training College in Cheltenham and did his research in Drama in Education at the University of Northampton in association with Leicester University. He also trained in Mime and Physical Theatre with Ronald Wilson and John Mowat at the London City Institute.He represented British students in fencing (1978 - 1981) and has a coaching award in foil fencing. He has directed numerous productions in schools and won the Royal National Theatre's BT Connections Showcase in 1994 with his interpretation of West Side Story, which performed in Germany before appearing at the Royal National Theatre in London. As Director of Bedfordshire Youth Theatre (from 1986 - 1996), he commissioned, wrote, and produced new plays as well as traditional, contemporary, and musical texts. His production of A Midsummer Night's Dream won Best Shakespeare Award at the 1989 Edinburgh Festival, and his production of William Wharton's Birdy was nominated as one of the ten most outstanding productions by The Sunday Telegraph in the same year at the same festival. His Bedfordshire Youth Theatre production of They Shall Not Grow Old (1992) won a place at The National Student Drama Festival and the Lloyds Bank Royal National Theatre Showcase, and his production of Angela Carter's The Company of Wolves (1993) won a place the Lloyds Bank National Theatre Showcase again the following year. He has toured his work extensively, and his productions have appeared in festivals in France, Germany, the Czech Republic, the USA, and Japan.

Cecilia Rubino is an award-winning writer, director and educator based in New York City. She has recently written and directed theater pieces which have performed at Lincoln Center's Walter Reade and Bruno Walter Theaters, The New Victory @ 42nd Street, Jefferson Market Playhouse, Irondale Theater Center, and the New York Fringe. From the Fire, a piece that she wrote and directed, with music composed by Elizabeth Swados, won the UK/Music Theater Awards for Best Music, Best Production and Best New Musical at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. She directed ‘Selected Monologues’ at the Maria Irene Fornes marathon at the Public Theater and ‘O’Neill in the Village’ at the Washington Square Hotel. Her documentary, Remembering Shakespeare explores new ways of thinking about memory and Shakespeare’s words in our digital age where memory itself is at risk. Her chapter, “If It Live In Your Memory” appears in The Whirlwind of Passion: New Critical Perspectives on William Shakespeare (Cambridge Scholar’s Press). Working in an array of disciplines, Cecilia’s professional work and teaching have focused on five main areas: theater & social change; the “everyday practice of the actor”; engaging the classics (particularly Shakespeare); transformative arts education, and theater & health advocacy. As an Associate Professor of Theater at Lang College, she has directed the Lang College undergraduate theater program, named one of the top Civic Engagement and Social Justice theater programs in the US by American Theater Magazine. She currently coordinates the Lang College Arts in Context Program at The New School and the Lang Theater & Education Program in coordination with ‘I Have A Dream’-New York After School Programs. She received Lang College’s Faculty Advisor Excellence Award in 2016 and the New School’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 2018.