PigPen Theatre Co.

Little Island is New York’s latest landing strip for theater, music, art — and ambition – The Washington Post

This group of innovative artists has been performing original songs and plays since their freshman year together at the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. They’ve since shared their unique brand of theater, music, and film on stages worldwide, wowing audiences of all ages with their interactive  theatrical productions. 

“Little Island is a place, and a community, that strikes us as singular and stunning. We are so inspired by the unique vision (and landscape!) of the park. We love cultivating our own imaginations – as well as the imaginations of artists we love and admire “ 

During our 2021 and 2022 programming seasons, PigPen Theatre Co. curated the Little Island Storytelling Festival. These lively celebrations of storytelling in all its many forms, activated the park through multimedia arts installations, musical retellings, spoken word readings, interactive journeys, and more. Performance highlights included a live event with The Moth; BFRJ Sings: The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill, Shaina Taub and Friends, Live Literature Concert: Sarah Kay, Mahogany L. Browne, and Jon Sands, and Michael Thurber’s Gigantic Energy. 

PigPen Theatre Co. began creating their unique brand of theatre, music, and film as freshmen at the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama in 2007. They have since performed, produced, and licensed their original plays in New York City and all over the world – earning them critic’s picks from The New York Times, Time Out New York, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Boston Globe, and many more, ranking them in the top ten theatrical events of 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2016. 

PigPen Theatre Co. were the first group to win the NYC Fringe Festival’s top honor for a play two years in a row (2010/11) and have gone on to win IRNE (2012, 2015) and Jeff Awards (2014) for their theatrical productions. In 2016, Sir Trevor Nunn invited PigPen to be a part of his first American acting company for a production of Shakespeare’s “Pericles.” In recent years, PigPen premiered their musical adaptation of “The Tale of Despereaux” (at The Old Globe and Berkeley Repertory Theatre) and workshopped their upcoming musical adaptation of “Water for Elephants” (in collaboration with Rick Elice). 2021 saw PigPen premiere their ongoing interactive theatrical experience, “The Phantom Folktales”, aboard Richard Branson’s groundbreaking cruise line, Virgin Voyages.