WE ARE PIEHOLES
The Village Voice said we were “creepy…yet also endearing…and expressive”, the Philadelphia City Paper thought we were “a beauty to behold.” Come see our work and tell us what you think.
Coming together from a variety of disciplines, Piehole is a collaborative experimental theater group based in Brooklyn, NY, that draws from puppetry, video, sound, and physical theatre in order to create dynamic performances that challenge audience expectations of viewership. We approach each of our projects on its own terms. We strive to re-imagine what a puppet can be, and we apply this approach in discovering the potential of bodies and objects in theatrical space. We’re interested in developing new work and fresh expressions of old work.
Uncle Torkel and Aunt Nanna, 2009
In 2005, before we knew we were Pieholes, a bunch of Pieholes made Tod & I at Brown University in Piehole, Rhode Island. In 2008, we further developed the show and the puppets and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn, as part of Film Festival: A Theater Festival. When our shows at The Brick sold out, we realized what a loyal Piehole community exists in New York. Thanks to them (YOU) and the great review in the Village Voice, our show at The Brick got extended. In September, we took Tod & I to Philly Fringe 2008 at 941 Theater for a three show run, receiving critical praise from the Philadelphia City Paper. Around the same time, in Summer 2008, Piehole member Tara Ahmadinejad performed her solo show S.H.A.V.E.D., directed by Willow Norton, at Pageant: Soloveev as part of Philly Fringe 2008. With the contributions of a few Pieholes, S.H.A.V.E.D. received critical praise from City Paper in Philly, who selected it as a “Fest Bet” for the Fringe. In February, Piehole participated in Electric Pear’s Synesthesia 2009 with our piece, Tenticle: A Canticle. We later performed Tenticle at Lapinski Studios, as part of The Co-Op’s “Everything Good in Life” in June 2009.
Characters hatched from the creative minds of young Beam Campers, during Piehole's weeklong mask and bunraku workshops as guest artists there in August 2010.
Piehole’s next production, (The American Museum of) Love & Geography, had its first run at Vox Populi during Philly Fringe 2009, and went on to HERE Arts Center in October 2009. After a dislocated knee and elbow (experienced by Love & Geo’s leading lady Alice Winlsow), a car accident with one fatality (a mail box), and a very enthusiastic audience reception in Philly and NYC, we re-couped our expenses, and then some, in December 2009’s IN THE HOLE Fundraiser, hosted by our friends at Magicland in Williamsburg. This night of fun allowed us to celebrate the wonderful support of the larger Piehole community, as well as our roots (PIE, which we sold along with other comestibles). In June 2010 we collaborated with Lea Bertucci and Ed Bear for Bushwick Open Studios to create Mutator, a seven-hour installation featuring three live performances, ghosts, snacks, shadow puppetry, and transistor radios. Piehole next collaborated, over one intense month of creation and rehearsal, with James Rutherford and Columbia Stages on A Midsummer Night’s Dream. We designed and puppeteered a pair of metallic wings, a toolbelt-donkeyhead, a bevy of fairies made of junk and lighting fixtures, as well as portraying the Rude Mechanicals, and topping it all off with an original silent adaptation of the Play-Within-a-Play, using the original Ovid text, life-sized shadow and 2D puppetry, animated video backdrops and a carnivorous set piece.
Currently, we are working on our ongoing devised piece, 2 Stories That End in Suicide.
pieholed@gmail.com