Piper Theatre Productions Opens 10th Summer Season at Old Stone House Tonight

Now in its 15th year, Park Slope's Piper Theatre Productions (Piper) continues to produce innovative, accessible theater; foster emerging talent; and support local youth through a rigorous summer theater program. This summer, Piper is excited to 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 4th 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 "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "Flash Gordon," and "The Music Man Jr." 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 Creang? with original live music, original choreography and authentic costumes. Open rehearsals and additional performances will take place at the Institute.

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 Old Stone House on July 6 and 13 and 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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The following are this summer's free outdoor Piper productions:

PIPER THEATRE WORKSHOP (ages 11-17)

The Apprentice Shows:

TONIGHT, July 15 - 7 pm
"ME"

Written by Piper student James Steinman Gordon (aged 13)
James joins a summer theater camp where he discovers a tribe of musical-obsessed children who spend July dancing, singing Sondheim, enduring madcap directors, and discovering friendship, first love and their own sexuality.

Hijabs and Hot Pants

A comedy written by Piper student, Darya Foroohar
Farigis, a seemingly stereotypical, religious Tehrani school girl, and Farah, her New York-based cousin, are 12-year-olds who haven't seen each other in years. That is until their dads decide they need a little cross-cultural experience. When Farah travels to Iran to visit Farigis, the two show their families they are more than just stereotypes.

Tuesday, July 21, 6:30 pm and Saturday, July 25, 11:30 am
Flash Gordon
Director: Lindsey Sproul
The adventures of football hero Flash Gordon who is skyjacked to the planet Mongo.

Wednesday, July 22, 6:30 pm and Saturday, July 25, 10 am
Blackwhite: The Adventures of Harap Alb
Directors: Vasile Flutur and Adi Bulboaca
Produced in conjunction with the Romanian Cultural Institute (RCI), this Piper adaptation of the Romanian fairy tale by Ion Creang?, features original choreography, music, and authentic Romanian costumes. Schedule of performances at RCI to be announced.

Thursday, July 23, 6:30 pm and Saturday, July 25, 1 pm
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
By Dale Wasserman, based on the novel by Ken Kesey
Director: Meredith Hackett
Larger than life Randle McMurphy stirs up the inmates by simply living as he pleases, leaving us all wondering, "who is actually insane...?" Presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.

Friday, July 24, 8 pm and Saturday, July 25, 7:30 pm
The Music Man Jr.
Author and Lyrics by Meredith Wilson
Book by Meredith Wilson and Franklin Lacey
Director: Ryan Michele Woods
Musical Director: Megan Jonynas
Fast-talking traveling salesman Harold Hill comes to town to organize a boys' band but he doesn't know a trombone from a treble clef!

INTENSIVE STUDY (ages 11-17)

Thursday, July 23, 8:30 pm and Saturday, July 25, 9 pm
Piper Film
Director: Jeremy Mather
Original student films.

Friday, July 24, 6:30 pm and Saturday, July 25, 3 pm
Off the Page: Immigration Project
Co-Directors: Vicky Finney Crouch and Jody Drezner Alperin
We were strangers once, too. What's your story? Using true immigration stories of New Yorkers from the past to the present as source material, student performers weave their stories together to tell the tale of this city and what it means today to come to America.

July 6 and 13, 8:30 pm at Old Stone House (fundraiser)

July 7, 12 and 17, 7:30 pm at 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, New York
August 5 - 22 at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Scotland
Splitfoot
Written by John P. McEneny and Vasile Flutur
Director: John P. McEneny
Original Music: Dario Eskenazi
The story of the mysterious Fox sisters, three American girls from western New York who started the spiritualist movement in the 1860s and '70s. Hailed as leaders of a new religious movement, the sisters fall into dishonor and ruin. Splitfoot, the ghostly creation of the sisters, claimed that he possessed them and connected the sisters to the other side.

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Piper Theatre Productions was created in 2000 by siblings John and Rachel McEneny, and has grown into one of the top emerging theater companies in Brooklyn producing free professional productions for families and adventurous theatergoers. In addition to producing modern musicals like "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown," "Xanadu" and last year's hit "Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson," and classics like "Frankenstein," "Hamlet" and "Twelfth Night," Piper also creates innovative physical performance pieces that tour internationally, such as "The Island Of Doctor Moreau," which was a Six-Star Bobby award-winner at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Additional past Piper productions include "The Miser" directed by Welker White, "Nocturnes" by John Connolly and directed by Nigel Williams, "Stilled" by Mike Mergo and "Endure," a play written and performed by Melanie Jones that toured to Calgary, London and Scotland. For more information on Piper Theatre Productions, visit www.pipertheatre.org.

Pictured: This year's mainstage equity showcase musical. Photo by Adi Bulboaca.

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