We believe that an unbridled imagination is a force of magic with the power to provoke a more courageous and compassionate world.

Pipeline makes theater of the imagination. Our company thrives on adventure and believes no story is worth telling without a little risk. We love our villains as much as our heroes, especially in those puzzling moments when we can’t quite tell them apart. Above all, we aim to leave you with stories that stick somewhere in your heart, your brain, or your guts.

Freeing creativity from restriction is central to our work so we have built a home where emerging artists are challenged to dream bigger than they thought possible. We have witnessed this courage transfix and transform our audiences. We believe putting them in a room filled with the extraordinary is a reminder of the incredible capacity of human beings and the power of our imaginations.

Pipeline Theatre Company was founded in 2009 as a class project at the Atlantic Acting School, where 31 students worked together as an ensemble and built a theater company from the ground up. In sixteen years, the students have all grown up and leadership has changed, while continuing to make “serious make-believe” with our ever-expanding community.

In its earliest years,  Pipeline Theatre Company mounted full productions – Sleepless City (2009),  Psycho Beach Party (2010) – and fostered original projects in development with our Brave New Works series. After seven successful installments of this series, Pipeline refocused our second stage programming on directly supporting playwrights in spinning their biggest, most impossible ideas into finished plays. In 2014, we established PlayLab, and to date we have supported over 60 artists – that’s over 60 full new plays! – with this program, two of which have gone on to be fully realized world premiere productions with Pipeline. 

To date, Pipeline’s productions have included: Alex Mills’ Shakespeare the Dead (World Premiere, part of the Dream Up! Festival at Theater for the New City); Bekah Brunstetter’s Fat Kids on Fire (directed by Tony-nominee Peter Frechette); Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle (2011 NY IT Award for Best Original Score for composer Cormac Bluestone, Nomination for Best Lighting Design for Eric Southern, ITBA Special Citation for Outstanding Production); Colby Day’s Felix & The Diligence (World Premiere, 2012 NY IT Award Nomination for Best Set Design for Andy Yanni); Timberlake Wertenbaker’s The Ash Girl (directed by Jessika Doyel), Colby Day’s Giant Killer Slugs (World Premiere, part of the Dream Up! Festival at Theater for the New City), Adam Szymkowicz’s Clown Bar, (New York Times Critics Pick, 2013 NY IT Award Nominations for Outstanding Featured Actor for Andrew Farmer, for Outstanding Featured Actress for Kelley Rae O’Donnell, for Outstanding Ensemble, and for Outstanding Costume Design for Meghan Gaber), Nate Weida’s folk gibberish musical BYUIOO (world premier), Andrew Farmer’s The Gray Man (world premiere), Jason Craig and Dave Malloy’s Beardo (New York premiere; Drama Desk Nominee for Outstanding Music, Dave Malloy), Jaclyn Backhaus’ Folk Wandering (created with a team of nine singer songwriters, world premiere), Kevin Armento, Jaki Bradley, and Marcus Miller’s Playing Hot (Spring 2019), C. Julian Jiménez’s world premiere developed in PlayLab and a New York Times’ Critics’ Pick, Bruise & Thorn (Spring 2022, New York Times Critics Pick), Baby Jessica’s Well-Made Play by our very own Philip Santos Schaffer (Winter/Spring 2023), and our second full production that came from PlayLab, Kairos Looney’s House of Telescopes (Spring 2024).

As we enter our 17th season, Pipeline looks forward to continuing to support emerging artists and their brave, bold new work which feels necessary now more than ever.