About US

Mission

Hip to Hip is a nonprofit theatre company dedicated to stimulating and developing interest in the theatre arts with an emphasis on the works of Shakespeare by providing high quality theatre entertainment for adults and children and to propagate among the public an understanding of the values of theatre and its contribution to the cultural, ethical and moral life of the community.

Hip to Hip operates on the following core beliefs:

  • Theatre is a celebration of community spirit.
  • Great plays and performances have the power to change lives.
  • Theatre should be affordable and accessible to the widest possible audience.
  • The audience’s enjoyment of the theatre event is vital to its understanding and appreciation of the event.
  • Theatre can be created from its essence: the text and the actor’s ability to bring it to life.

History

Hip to Hip was incorporated to do business in the summer of 2007. It was founded by New York City based actors Jason and Joy Marr who wanted to share their enthusiasm for great plays, the works of Shakespeare in particular, and to present those plays simply and theatrically. They wanted to boil the theatre event down to its essence: text, actor, audience. They felt that great stories and skillful performances could powerfully engage the audience’s imagination with limited technical production.

Hip to Hip’s first order of business was to establish an annual summer program of “Free Shakespeare in the Park”. In August 2007 they presented Shakespeare’s As You Like It at two outdoor venues: the open-air stage of Queens’ Windmuller Park and the beautiful courtyard of Sunnyside’s All Saint’s Church. The production was so warmly received that in 2008 Hip to Hip offered Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and added Southampton’s Agawam Park to their list of venues. Not only did the audiences embrace the minimalist aesthetic of Hip to Hip, they seemed genuinely hungry for more Shakespeare. In the summer of 2009, with the aid of public funding from the City and State of New York, Hip to Hip expanded its reach again and toured two full productions (A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo & Juliet) to seven geographically and demographically diverse communities and played to over 2,000 people.

In 2010, Hip to Hip was again awarded public funding. This, coupled with exposure in the New York Times and on National Public Radio and very positive word-of-mouth within the community, allowed Hip to Hip to reach nearly 4,000 people with its productions of Taming of the Shrew and Macbeth.

Why “hip to hip”? Two reasons: one, the phrase “hip to hip” is lifted right out of Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors and shows our commitment to these great plays; and two, the phrase encapsulates the idea that the theatre arts are a uniquely collaborative art form and requires the artists to work closely together—they must stand hip to hip artistically and physically as they create the theatre event.