[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of Kitchen Table Productions The Eddies and the Pypers, written and directed by Jennie Iacobino, at the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2025.
The Eddies and the Pypers is a brand new play premiering at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. It’s all about love and death and learning how to let go. Grieving is not an unusual subject for a play. I’ve seen many, many perspectives staged, actually. What sets The Eddies and the Pypers apart from everything else I have seen is that it’s the ghost of Pyper, Eddie’s recently deceased wife, that refuses to leave Eddie and move on. At first, this is a comfort to Eddie. He misses Pyper and, of course, is comforted by her presence. But things get sticky when he has to isolate to avoid appearing insane when talking to Pyper in public, as he is comically the only one who can see her. Friends and family offer support and feel rejected by him. When he returns to work as a teacher, things get even more complicated when a coworker, who is clearly attracted to him, offers her friendship and support. Pyper is obviously jealous and unable to give Eddie the space he needs. Her anger causes all the havoc you might expect and Eddie can’t handle any of it.
It’s a funny and effective story populated with some warmly realistic and very endearing characters. The Eddies and the Pypers tells a universal story of letting go and moving on while still honoring the past. It does so with humor and some very bold choices that might shock, but does so with the intention not just to entertain but to inform on character and movtivation. Pyper was a handful alive, and dead, she is more trouble than ever. As the story unfolds, we learn more and more about her and why she died and the story is fuller for it.
Death is a tricky subject to write an entertaining play about. But The Eddies and the Pypers manages to do just that while still holding onto the sadness and the love. The actors’ performances are all wonderful and very believable. Each actor giving their all to this extremely funny and heartbreaking play.
The Eddies and the Pypers CAST:
Natasha Preston, Micheal MacLeod, Anna Knight, Ashton Ruiz, and Effie Spence.
Produced by Kitchen Table Productions.
****
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