In Memoriam – Sam Piperato

It is with great sadness that I announce to the Archipelago Theatre/Cine Community that Sam Piperato, a composer, musical director and actor with Archipelago, passed away on December 13, 2024 at sunset in New York after a long illness.

After being an American Dance Festival student in my class, Sam came to work with me in the play “The Abdication” in 1993. He continued to write music and perform off and on through 1999 with our company.  You can hear much of his music and see his many roles in our performances under “Productions”.

His crowning glory came with his solo performance piece “Ten in One”. Sam wrote the music, and the lyrics. The title was a reference to “Ten ‘freaks’ under one tent” in roadside carnivals. He created this one-man- show with four musicians based on “freaks in history” and the universal confrontation of those with a terminal illness (in this case AIDS). I was honored to direct him in this piece and assist with the choreography.

A few of the Ten characters, based on real people who lived life as outsiders, were Margery Kemp, the English Catholic mystic, Clifford Beers, a self-cured man with schizophrenia, and Lya Graf, a small person in PT Barnum’s Circus. He performed, wrote the original music and lyrics of this piece, a song cycle on the lives of these and other characters. The miracle was, as an AIDS survivor, he was admitted again to the hospital the week before the show opened. He pulled through to perform a few months later. Sam was a brave survivor and brought his fierce passion for life into his art.  You can see a clip of this show here.

We are so grateful to Sam for offering his friendship to us, and his talent, wit and genius to the work of Archipelago Theatre.                     

Rest in Peace now, Sam