Amina Henry's THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN To Premiere At Women In Theatre Festival

Project Y Theatre will present the World Premiere of The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Amina Henry, directed by Michole Biancosino, as part of the 9th Annual Women in Theatre Festival at Theatre 154, June 9-23.

What happens when the adults of the town ignore the wisdom of children? This new and exciting version by Amina Henry tells the age-old story with a twist, as the worlds of children and adults just can't seem to come together. Filled with song, dance, and rats (rat puppets and costumes, that is!). 

In this modern adaptation of the classic The Pied Piper of Hamelin, the town of Hamelin struggles with a rat infestation. Led by their mayor, the people of Hamelin employ several tactics to get rid of the rats. When the rats remain, they employ a strange pied piper who suddenly arrives in town and offers to get rid of the rats for a price. The pied piper successfully rids Hamelin of rats, but when the mayor, and the other adults of Hamelin refuse to pay the piper for his work, he exacts a horrific revenge. With poetic and playful language, The Pied Piper of Hamelin examines the lessons adults teach the children in their lives through their words and actions.

The cast will feature Mary Theresa Archbold (Cost of Living with Manhattan Theatre Club), Saran Bakari (Relentless with The Goodman Theatre), Emily Ma (Chickadee at the Chain Theatre), and Evan Vines (Carnegie Mellon). 

The design team will include Set Design by Chen-Wei Liao (A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing with Irish Rep), Lighting Design by Elizabeth M. Stewart (Between the Threads at HERE), and Sound Design by Tate Abdullah (What The Constitution Means To Me with City Theatre Company, Pittsburgh). 

Performances will take place on Sunday, June 9 at 12pm, Sunday, June 9 at 2pm, Wednesday, June 12 at 7pm, Saturday, June 15 at 12pm, Saturday, June 15 at 2pm, Thursday, June 20 at 7pm, Saturday, June 22 at 7pm, and Sunday, June 23 at 7pm. Tickets ($23.18) are available for advance purchase at www.witfestival.projectytheatre.org. The performance will run approximately 60 minutes, with no intermission. 

Amina Henry

(Playwright) is a Brooklyn-based playwright. Selected productions include: The Animals, Ducklings, Hunter John and Jane and The Johnsons, all at JACK (Brooklyn, NY), P.S. produced by Ars Nova (New York, NY), Little Rapes at Long Island University (The New Group), Nothing, Nothing at HERO Theatre (Los Angeles, CA), The Great Novel at New Light Theater, Happily Ever at Brooklyn College, and Bully at Interrobang Theater (Baltimore, MD), Clubbed Thumbs 2019 Winterworks, and SUNY Purchase, among other venues. Her work has been produced, developed by and/or presented by: The New Group, Clubbed Thumb, New Georges, The Flea, Page 73, Project Y Theatre, National Black Theater, Dixon Place, The Brooklyn Generator, The Brick, Oregon Shakespeare Festival  (Ashland, OR), Kitchen Dog Theater (Dallas, TX), HERE Arts Center, and the cell. She is a 2020 recipient of the Sarah Verdone Writing Award and is an affiliate artist of New Georges. She is a member of the Women's Project 2022-2024 Lab.

Michole Biancosino

(Director) is one of the Co-Founding Artistic Directors of Project Y Theatre, a company that has launched world premieres in NYC, regionally, and internationally.  Recent collaborations include Show Up, Kids! with Peter Michael Marino and MileSquare Theatre, the Infallible award-winning Planet of the Grapes Live! with Peter Michael Marino at Edinburgh Fringe, the long-running hit show, David and Katie Get Re-Married now playing at Asylum and Waves of Gravity with musician Neel Murgai and artist/animator Seema Lisa Pandya at CultureHub/LaMaMa. As an actor, she currently tours Yoga with Jillian by Lia Romeo, which she'll take back to Edinburgh Fringe for the second year in a row to The Pleasance. Before then, it heads to 59E59 Theater's East to Edinburgh Festival this July. Michole co-created and directed the two long-running hit shows, Trump Lear and David Carl’s Celebrity One-Man Hamlet.  MFA in Directing: Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts. www.micholebiancosino.com 

The Women in Theatre Festival seeks to broaden the opportunities for women in the entertainment industry by producing new work by women with more than 50% representation of all artists involved. Our festival is a model of going beyond parity, as we commission and produce new works by women+ writers, devisers, and creators, develop an audience interested in feminist theatre, and foster opportunities that center interdisciplinary practices and experimentation. More Women. More Theatre. All the Time.

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