Park Slope

Piper Theatre Productions presents its 10th summer season outdoors at the Old Stone House

June 5, 2015 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
A scene from last year’s Piper Theatre Productions’ “Twelfth Night.” Photo by Lisa Pines
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This summer, Park Slope’s Piper Theatre Productions (Piper), now in its 15th year, will host a musical thriller, partner with the Romanian Cultural Institute, travel to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, screen original student films alongside an indie work, and present fantastic family theater that will engage the community and excite veteran theatergoers and newbies alike. All performances are free and take place outdoors at the Old Stone House’s Washington Park field on Fourth Avenue in Park Slope.

“We are thrilled to be celebrating Piper’s 10th season at Washington Park,” said Kim Maier, executive director of the Old Stone House. “Not only do they produce top-notch professional productions, they activate the neighborhood with great free family theater and a fantastic summer youth program, bringing an energy and an enthusiasm back to Washington Park after the long winter months. They are wonderful partners and we look forward to many more years of Piper to come.”

Piper’s own youth theater company, Piper Theatre Workshop, will take over Washington Park in July with performances of traditional and contemporary works including “Robin Hood and the Imaginary Arrow,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,”  “Flash Gordon,” “The Music Man Jr.” and Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”  Led by Artistic Director John P. McEneny, Piper’s summer youth programs host over 160 young people each summer, ranging from ages 7 – 17 years. Students experience the gamut of theater production, from creating full-scale productions to performing on a professional stage. Piper’s youth programs include the Starlings Puppetry and Drama Workshops (one and two-week program for ages 7-11); Piper Theatre Workshop (theater and musical productions for ages 11-17) and intensive study including Piper Film, where students create digital films to be screened outdoors, and Off the Page’s Immigration Project, where students work with guest artists in music, movement and playwriting to create an original piece of theater using true immigration stories of New Yorkers from the past to the present as source material.

Piper is excited to announce a co-production with the Romanian Cultural Institute of “Blackwhite: The Adventures of Harap Alb,” Piper’s adaption of the Romanian fairy tale by Ion Creangă with original live music, original choreography and authentic costumes. Open rehearsals and additional performances will take place at the Institute.

On July 2, Piper will proudly welcome an Equity Showcase production of “Sweeney Todd” to the main stage for a three-week run. “Sweeney Todd” is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI) and will run through July 18.

And in August, the company is thrilled to be taking its original production of “Splitfoot” to the Edinburgh Fringe, along with students from Piper Theatre Workshop. Written by John P. McEneny and Vasile Flutur, “Splitfoot” is the story of the mysterious Fox sisters, three American girls from western New York who started the spiritualist movement in the 1860s and ‘70s. Piper Theatre Workshop participants, ranging from ages 12-17, will accompany Piper to help support the production. “Splitfoot” will have run at 59E59 Theater’s East to Edinburgh prior to departing for the Fringe Festival – July 7, 12 and 17.

“We are very excited to be a part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for our original production of ‘Splitfoot,’” said John P. McEneny, Artistic Director of Piper Theatre Productions. “For 15 years, Piper has produced exciting, free outdoor theater, building community through performance. We are proud to be sharing our work internationally and look forward to another successful summer season at Washington Park. As always, we are grateful for our partnership with the Old Stone House, whose continuous support makes our summer productions all the more successful.”

 

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