The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side

Written and Directed by Derek Ahonen

Performance Space 122

150 1st Avenue

212-352-3101

 

Review by Kristyn Ciccone

 

Spread the Love: The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side come to PS 122.

 

The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side tells the compelling story of four young idealists living a thought-to-be unconventional lifestyle above a vegan restaurant in the Lower East Side. The foursome, Billy, Dawn, Dear and Wyatt, are all involved with one another sexually. But besides sex, what do an independent journalist/drug addict, a runaway teenager/street musician, a former PETA member/pro-bono lawyer, and a tai chi-doing, gambling environmentalist have in common? They all want to bring change to the world not only by lessening their carbon footprints, but also by simply spreading love.

 

In fact, writer-director Derek Ahonen’s complex characters make The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side the meaningful play that it is. James Kautz, actor and co-founder of the Amoralists theater company, gives an especially memorable performance as Billy, a man who is resentful of his wealthy parents for their unwillingness to support his career as an independent reporter, which is driven by a desire to report on myriad social justice movements. As a result, he has turned to drugs — that is until his college-aged brother comes to visit and the bartered deal the group has with the owner of the vegan restaurant below falls through, leading to the beloved foursome going their separate ways.

 

Through raw emotions and full-frontal nudity, Ahonen shows that Billy, Dawn, Dear and Wyatt do not care who a person is or where he or she comes from; to them, everyone deserves to be nurtured and loved. As a result of being exposed to this “extended sexual family,” the audience gets a sense of hope that there are, in fact, people in the world who do not judge others. Through the characters’ undying passion for both the earth and each other, the audience is almost inspired to become a vegan, to join PETA, or at least to lessen their carbon footprints in hopes of preventing the unfortunate circumstances Billy predicts will come if people do not act sooner rather than later.

 

With The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side, the Amoralists have produced a work not involving questions of right or wrong but rather honestly expressing that, in life, not everything or everyone is straight-laced and conventional, and sometimes it is better that way.