PEP Productions

Voted BEST Local Troupe 2007 - Times Herald-Record Readers Poll

Cast Bios - Photo Gallery

Event Calendar:

2008 Season Sponsored by

And

-

The Air Pirates Radio Theater is made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts’ Decentralized Program administered by Arts In Orange.

History

One evening back in 1970 a group of political artists were sitting around pondering the state of the arts in the USA and The Air Pirates were born. At that time, cable television was the only way for people in the boondocks to get reception. Radio had just introduced FM, LPs were playing on turntables and the internet was yet to be conceived.

In an effort to bring live theater to the masses, The Air Pirates began their plan: Door to Door Theater. The idea was to show up on a suburban doorstep, announce themselves and be invited into the home to perform right in the living room. The first stop was not as they had hoped. Stepping up to the door they rang the bell. When the door was opened the announcement began “We are the Air Pirates and we have come to eliminate another evening of boring T.V.” The Pirates were asked to leave immediately. The second stop was even less welcoming and before the third, the police had arrived and the mission was quickly scrubbed.

Subsequent acts of Air Piracy include the 1979 Search for the Hudson River Monster complete with a fifteen by thirty foot decoy floated in the Hudson River Harbor Festival Parade of Ships. The Maurice Kaplan, Environmental Furrier’s interview on WBAI radio as a celebration of Earth Day in 1982 and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Plants rally protesting the torture of Bonsai Trees at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden also bear the mark of The Air Pirates.

Forty years later the Air Pirates have resurfaced in another incarnation; radio theater. Using the name from decades past, The Air Pirates have finally found a way into the public’s living room to successfully eliminate an evening of boring T.V. Their first production in 2006, War of the Worlds, was a special event for WTBQ. With the twist of asking the audience to participate by producing the sound effects, The Air Pirates Radio Theater was well on its way. Their first season opened with original scripts and The Air Pirates were voted the Best Theater Troupe in the Hudson Valley by the Times Herald Record Readers’ Poll. The Air Pirates are now welcome in thousands of living rooms by broadcasting the shows.

This season, The Pirates continue the series they began last year: Herb Marks Freelance and Space Cadet. They are also introducing a new series, Los Tres Balceneros, a tribute to the old time western.