entertain children and teens <Pipers peiform for young and old alike "One, two, three ... once upon a time!" For those who saw the Pied Pipers, these were familiar words used to introduce the stories. The Pipers performed fairy tale favorites like Little Red Riding Hood, Rumpelstiltskin and the Three Little Pigs. The Pied Pipers performed these fairy tales in a unique way, so the audience never really knew what to expect. Pied Pipers is an improvisational troupe that performs for a special group of people, children. Their improvisation led to every show being different, which kept things exciting, not only for the children but for the performers as well. They performed as many as five or six shows in a day, and the element ofimprovisation kept them on their toes. "We don't use any props, set pieces or sound equipment in our shows. We relied on our bodies and the children's imaginations to create the environment for our stories," director Dottie Frye said. By singing songs and acting out stories, Pipers strove to include the audience as active participants throughout the show. "Our goal was to promote a positive moral message in all our shows and to show children all the fun and magic there is in the world which is unrelated to violence, immorality and all of the other social problems that they may see played out on television today," fourth-year member Sheila Clark said. This year there were eight Pipers, four returningmembers and four new ones.New member Pete Vann said, "It's awesome! It's a great way to minister to children. Also, I really like kids, so it's a good way to use acting as a ministry." Marcus Neely, also a new member said, "I knew about Pipers before I ever came to Harding, and I knew that it was something that I would love to do." Pipers attend a retreat at Camp Tahkodah at the beginning of each semester. While there, they worked on getting to know and trust each other. "This trust is very important in an improvisational group because everyone has to trust one another enough to follow their lead when performing a story since every performance is different," Clark said. The Pipers made plans to travel on a campaign through the Northwest and Canada for three weeks this summer. The tour is a cooperative effort with Theatron, a theatrical group sponsored by the College of Bible and Religion. Theatron's target audience is teenagers so the two groups will have the distinct opportunity to work together to expand their audiences and the number of children they are able to reach. The Pied Pipers perform for approximately 20,000 children each year, endearing themselves to young and old alike. - Christina Weber Pi Sigma Epsilon. First Row: Debbie Cooper, Carrie Walker, Erica Rinehart, Justin Florio, Schell Haines, Ana Leticia Varela, Anabella Ruiz. Second row: Guillermo Hernandez, Bo Farley, Jim Gaskins. Third row: Jon Montague, John Williams, Lori Sloan (faculty sponsor), Brent Allen, Darvin Knight, Amy Roeh. Fourth row: Rawle Reynolds, Joel Ruf, Brandon Smith Tom Garner, Greg E vens, Dr. Randy McLeod (faculty sponsor). Photo by Aaron Gillihan. Pied Pipers. First row: Pete Vann, Dawn Crabtree, Sheila Clark. Second row: Jenny Moses, Dottie Frye (faculty sponsor), Dallas Hill. Third row: Joy Haynes, Marcus Neely, Barry Watts . Photo by Aaron Gillihan. Pi Sigma Epsilon and Pied Pipers 197
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