playbill vip

Pippin is a play about the search for meaning and fulfillment in a world of war, distraction, and politics. It is about trying to figure out who you are in the face of often competing desires and values, that seems devoted to leading you astray.  At the end, Pippin’s adopted son Theo chooses to repeat the cycle of the quest for meaning, just as all children have to step out into the world on their own. 

Our take on Pippin is that the players are born of his imagination, representing the warring forces within himself. The players represent his own impulses, hopes, and dreams that “tempt [him] toward the flood” (to borrow from our season opener, Hamlet), but also bring him joy, pleasure, and revelation throughout the journey. The backdrop is the classic circus of the PT Barnum era, with elements of both unsettling freakshow and awe-inspiring spectacle. From gharish clowns to bedazzled acrobats, from bold lion tamers to otherworldly magicians, this Pippin will wow audiences with all of the glitz and glamour of the Big Top. After all, “we’ve got magic to do!”

- Doctor Jasmine Lellock