In the 1970's Jonathan Mirin was busy getting beat up in a Boston suburb and Godeliève Richard was being sent to buy seven liters of milk to feed her six siblings in a Swiss village. In 1998, they began practicing Vipassana meditation, separately. In 2000, Jonathan had finished the run of his first two plays at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Having never been to Europe, he set out with a back-pack and an open-ended itinerary, only to make a fateful stop at the Vipassana Meditation Center in Switzerland where Godeliève was waiting for him . . . er, also volunteering. They didn't speak much, but Jonathan did manage to invite her to join him in India where he was headed via a rather circuitous three month overland route. This part of our story later became part of Piti Theatre's first production, Riding the Wave.com.
In 2003, they were married in their friend Forest's forest and in 2004 Riding the Wave.com premiered at the New York International Fringe Festival. In 2006, they moved to Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. Their first collaborative production "Elmer and the Elder Tree" began touring New England in 2008. Then . . .
2009: Ezekiel (a son, not a play)
2010: 28 FEET, a solo autobiographical comedy about growing up with Crohn's disease
2010: 1st Annual SYRUP: One Sweet Performing Arts Festival, Piti's annual festival celebrating spring, sap and the arts.
2012: "To Bee or Not to Bee" and "Etre ou ne pas être . . . une abeille", a play with music about honeybee disappearance premieres in the U.S. and Switzerland (Piti's first French language production)
2013: "Olde Coleraine", Piti's first "Your Town" production
2015: "Innocenzo" a play with music about a clown's environmental health challenges in the 21st century, premieres in the U.S. and Switzerland (second French production).
2017: First annual Great Greenfield DinoFest, co-produced with Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association
2018: "Sammy and Le Grand Buffet", French/English solo clown show produced in the U.S. and Switzerland
2020: Launch of Valley Playwright Mentoring teen program and Valley Arts Mentors with Holyoke Media and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Franklin County
2021: "Dexter and the Dinosaurs" film version premieres at the Great Greenfield DinoFest.
2022: "Canary in the Gold Mine" premieres at the Ko Festival of Performance (streaming production).
We have also created many "mini-productions", workshops and residencies for schools, organizations and festivals.