What must it have been like to get in on the ground floor at a big company like Apple? What was it like to see child girl group Destiny’s Child perform at some outdoor fair in Texas and think “Hey! That Beyoncé has something special!”?
Well, I can tell you what it’s like to be there from the beginning because I, Nicole Spiezio, am a FOUNDING MEMBER of Pipeline Theatre Company! You may know me as an actress/comedian/beautiful plus-sized model (THANK U, HONEY!!!) but you may not know that I was there when it all started at the Atlantic Theater Company acting school aka the mothership aka the womb. I was there when we produced our very first show despite being wildly unqualified to do so. I was there when we painstakingly wrote draft after draft of our first mission statement in a small classroom with uncomfortable chairs and no windows. I was there when we came up with the name “Pipeline” (thank goodness that’s where we landed – the other options were, to put it mildly, “not good”).
I was there when a group of child-adults came together to form a theater company as a LITERAL class project and I was there when we transformed into adult-adults. From college acquaintances to BFF’s to a true family (I’m the fun aunt who gets too tipsy at parties). I’ve been there as we’ve added incredible new artists into our family and onto our stages. I’ve seen us literally grow up and become a real live non-profit theater company that gets reviewed by the New York Times (!!!) and gets nominated for Drama Desk Awards (!!!). I’ve worked with artists I’ve met through Pipeline time and time again both within our shared home base and out in the wilds of the NY theater scene. I’ve seen my friends and fellow Pipeline artists continue to lead the pack in their respective fields. I’ve been to our shows when it was just our friends and families in our audience and now I look around and don’t recognize so many faces and I cannot begin to tell you how exciting that is.
I am proud to be a founding member of Pipeline. I am proud to be an ensemble member in a company being run by 3 fearless women I am continuously awed and impressed by. I’m proud that above all else, Pipeline makes big, bold theater and says yes where so many others say “lol, absolutely not”. I am so elated that Pipeline Theatre Company is in its 10TH SEASON of continuously producing work and being a home for the weird and the brave. Thank you for coming along on this ride with us so far, and for staying on board for what’s next. Your support, in so many ways, has directly impacted us being able to make wild, fantastical theater. To help us pay our artists and produce the art only they can make. As we launch into our 10th season, I BOLDLY ask (I am in Pipeline after all) for any help you can give and donation you can make to support this family and business I love so much.
Top Photo by Alice Teeple.
Bottom Photo by Ahron R. Foster from The Ash Girl (2012).
