Time travel, tuba and da Vinci walk into open space
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, April 22, 2026
A grad student time-travels to the Renaissance. A tuba lights the way. Beds make music. Paintings come to life.
That’s the world of “Ha Ha Da Vinci,” an award-winning solo show by performer Phina Pipia coming to Open Space for Arts & Community on Friday, May 8, at 7:30 p.m.
The production blends illusion, music, puppetry and theater into a story about a woman zapped back to the 15th century, where she must decode the notes of Leonardo da Vinci and his collaborator, mathematician and magician Luca Pacioli, to find her way home.
Called “terrific” by the New York Times and “impossible to resist” by the Montreal Gazette, the show has collected honors at fringe festivals from Nigeria to Vancouver, including Outstanding Solo Performance at the San Diego International Fringe and the Joanna Maratta Award at the Vancouver Fringe. It toured Italy last fall in a translated production, playing Bologna, Milan and Catania.
Pipia, the daughter of a professional magician, said in a press release from Open Space that the show grew out of her discovery that Pacioli — da Vinci’s real-life collaborator — authored the first book on sleight-of-hand magic.
“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,” Pipia said in the release.
Pipia grew up in a household where illusion was part of daily life, and has worked as a dancer, musician and theater artist in New York and beyond. She has performed with choreographers Merce Cunningham and others, toured with magic show The Psychic Dynasty, and played bass and vocals with the Unexpected Brass Band.
Before the May 8 performance, Pipia will lead a free, hands-on magic workshop at the Vashon Library on Tuesday, May 5, from 4:15 to 5:15 p.m. Participants of all ages can learn a trick to perform themselves and, according to the press release, discover “the secret to the biggest magic trick of all — how to make your ideas a reality.”
Tickets are available at openspacevashon.com Open Space for Arts & Community is located at 18870 103rd Ave SW, Vashon.
