BroadwayGirlNYC: Dramatically Changing Lives- Story Pirates

I've tweeted about them and I've sung their praises.  Today, I dedicate my entire column to my favorite New York City Theatre Company!  Believe it or not, it's not a Broadway- or an off-Broadway company.  It's not even a group that uses the stage as their primary means of changing the world.  No, this company uses the classroom -- and the original ideas of kids -- as the launching pad from which they dramatically affect lives.  

Ladies & Gentlemen... meet The Story Pirates!!

Three years ago in March, a friend was playing at a benefit concert for La Mama, the legendary indie theatre house in the East Village, and invited me to come.  The lineup was strange - ranging from a cross-dressing, lingerie-clad clown to a foreign improv troupe whose dialogue wasn't in English.  My friend's act, of course, was delightful; but at only fifteen minutes in a program that lasted more than three hours, I wasn't sure if I'd made the right call about how to spend my evening and $25.  Little did I know that I was about to have my socks figuratively blown off, and my life forever changed, by the group that closed the show. 

Enter The Story Pirates -- a group of 20- and 30-something actors and their puppet friends (think early Muppet Show), singing and dancing and acting out crazy sketch comedy scenes.  Right away, I was clutching my stomach at the hilarity and sheer originality of the material - not to mention tapping my toes to the brilliant musical content that, as a connoisseur of Broadway, I recognized as top-notch.  I was surprised and delighted to learn that the source of EVERY sketch and song was an original story written by a kid -- as a part of the arts education programs The Story Pirates conduct at schools all over New York.

I was already a sucker for arts education.  I grew up with one parent a teacher and the other a performer, so the pairing of the two was always a part of my home life; and I was lucky enough to attend schools that had healthy music, drama, and writing programs built into their curricula.  It's no secret to me that since I was young, programs have been slashed all over the country, and that many kids grow up without the benefits of the arts education that I got.  I've volunteered and donated to plenty of organizations in this realm, from the time I was practically a kid myself.  All were deserving, respectable non-profits that offered services like providing supplies, instruments, and teachers' salaries in the creative arts. But none, until I met the Story Pirates, was so lively, so fun, so engaging (even for me as an adult!).  None was so actively inspiring.  None had ever made me want to become involved in such a short period of time: less than ten minutes into their hour-long performance, I turned to my date and said, "I want to make a million dollars, just so I can give it all to them."

I cornered the Story Pirates director after the show, with tears in my eyes and hurting cheeks from smiling and laughing so hard.  "How can I become a part of this?" I asked him.  He encouraged me to check out their website, www.StoryPirates.org, and to come to one of their regular Saturday shows at the Drama Book Shop on 40th street, with friends.  I did.  And I've gone back almost every month since then, having seen over 25 Story Pirates shows over the past three years.

The La Mama show was for adults only, and everyone in the room was rapt.  The Drama Book Shop show was for families -- including kids seeing THEIR OWN stories performed live -- and everyone there was equally enthralled.  Even in a theatre filled with children, the Story Pirates brought a sophistication and respect to the material that resonated with the grownups in the room while simultaneously making the kids laugh their heads off.  And I've never seen delight like the glee in the faces of the authors who were featured that afternoon.  One of them even said aloud, "Mom, I want to go home and write another story RIGHT NOW!"

ANY kid, it turns out, can have their original story performed in a Story Pirates mainstage show.  And ANY school can bring The Story Pirates in for programs that benefit their entire academic community.  From day-workshops, to hilarious school assemblies, to professional development for teachers, to in-depth writing workshops that engage kids in a way that feels like recess, the Story Pirates are THE most brilliant mergers of education and theatre that I can even imagine.  I want to have a kid just so I can watch the change come over her when she sees her first original story performed -- a moment when she might realize for the first time that she is a person with valuable, original ideas that are worth exploring, expanding, and celebrating.

I recently learned that the Story Pirates have launched a West Coast branch of their troupe, based at the Geffen Theatre in Los Angeles.  They also tour throughout the year to schools and performance spaces all over the country. And of course, they remain a stalwart of arts education throughout New York City, where they currently visit over 100 schools a year, impacting all five boroughs.  

Whether you have kids or you don't, check out the Story Pirates.  Visit them on a Saturday at the Drama Book Shop; see an adults-only After Dark show featuring the same brilliant cast & stories; or recommend their arts education programs to the schools in your neighborhood.  (And hey - did I mention they do birthday parties?!)

You'll be doing yourself a service by coming to see this group.  I promise that you'll have so much fun, it'll become a secondary issue that The Story Pirates have so much impact on the livelihood of kids.

For more information on The Story Pirates, contact Executive Director Benjamin Salka at (347) 8-STORY-8 or benjamin@storypirates.org.