Award-winning illusion, music, puppetry show + free magic workshop

||| FROM PHINA PIPIA |||

Hailed as “Imaginative, intelligent, and strangely mesmerizing” by the San Diego Union Tribune, Phina Pipia brings award-winning solo show to the Orcas Island Odd Fellows Hall

A tuba lights the way, beds make music, paintings come to life, and a radio delivers a message from the past in an award-winning production that combines illusion, music, puppetry, and theater. When a grad student discovers that Leonardo da Vinci and his collaborator, magician and mathematician Luca Pacioli, invented a time machine, she is zapped back to the Renaissance. It’s up to her to decode their notes and solve a 15th-century mystery so that she can return to the present. 

Called “terrific,” by the New York Times, “enchanting,” by the Twin Cities’ Pioneer Press, and “impossible to resist,” by the Montreal Gazette, Phina Pipia’s performances have captivated audiences around the world. Winner of Nigeria’s Lagos Fringe Award, San Diego International Fringe Festival’s Outstanding Solo Performance Award, the Vancouver Fringe Festival’s Joanna Maratta Award, the Critic’s Choice Award for Best Solo Musical at Orlando Fringe, Artist Pick and Venue Pick Awards at the Minnesota Fringe, and named a Top Pick at the San Diego Fringe by PBS, Ha Ha Da Vinci invites audiences of all ages into a world where they can safely expect the delightfully unexpected. 

A free hands-on magic workshop will be held at the Odd Fellows Hall the day before the show

In addition to the show, participants young and old get to participate in a hands-on magic workshop where they will learn a magic trick they can perform themselves, and discover the secret to the biggest magic trick of all; how to make your ideas a reality. Inspired by the ingenuity seen in the Italian Renaissance, this empowering workshop is both unforgettable fun and a game-changing life lesson in self-actualization. Led by Phina Pipia, students come away laughing, energized, and with the power to unlock their creative potential. 

• “Terrific” – The New York Times
• “Impossible to resist” – Montreal Gazette
• “Imaginative, intelligent, and strangely mesmerizing” – The San Diego Union Tribune
• “Enchanting” – Pioneer Press
• “A celebration of art” – Orlando Sentinel
• “Heartwarming, magical, suffused with originality” – Orlando Weekly
• Tickets for Ha Ha Da Vinci can be purchased at: https://www.phinapipia.com/
• Show runs: 4:00 pm, Sunday, May 3, 2026
• Workshop runs: 4:00 pm, Saturday, May 2, 2026
• Venue: Orcas Island Odd Fellows Hall, 112 Haven Rd, Eastsound, WA 98245

The real-life story behind how the show was made

The daughter of a professional magician, Phina Pipia grew up in a house where the laws of physics were defied on a daily basis. “I sometimes joke that I have a permanent suspension of disbelief,” she says, “as a toddler, objects tossed into the air would stay aloft, coins closed in your hand would vanish… illusion was a part of everyday life, and as a result, I still believe that just about anything is possible.” Ha Ha Da Vinci is steeped in that sense of wonder.

When Phina Pipia learned that magician Luca Pacioli authored the first book on sleight of hand magic during the Renaissance, and that he collaborated closely with Leonardo da Vinci, she was hooked. “I was lit up with an electric sense of curiosity, driven to find out everything I could about what these two artists made together and how they came up with ideas,” says Pipia, “the more I learned, the more this show seemed to roll out at my feet like a magic carpet. I simply stepped aboard and went for a ride.”

The show was developed in residence at Centrum Foundation for the Arts in 2020 and in partnership with The Chameleon Theater in Washington State. After 3 years on the road, it was awarded a residency for further development at physical theater hub, Celebration Barn Theater. In 2024, it was translated into Italian and this past fall, it enjoyed its first 5-weeklong tour through Bologna, Milan, and Catania. Ha Ha Da Vinci has been produced in Europe, Canada, and the United States. 

A triple threat with a flair for sleight-of-hand

As a professional dancer, Pipia worked in New York City with choreographers Merce Cunningham, Julian Barnett, and Cori Kresge. There, she co-founded a production company, Generation Goat Rocket, staging original musicals that earned critical acclaim both in the United States and abroad. She performed as one half of the double sousaphone duo The Pipia Sisters, toured with the magic show The Psychic Dynasty, and worked as the bassist and vocalist with Kozmopolis and the Unexpected Brass Band. Pipia released her first solo album and its companion songbook, Outside of the Movies, in 2020, and her new album, Normal Times – which interweaves electronic beats, brass melodies, and vocals – is scheduled for release in December of 2026. Phina’s upbringing among artists and performers has meant that the extraordinary has always been a part of daily life. Her work is imbued with that sense of wonder and magic.