Local performing artist Phina Pipia is bringing her latest ambitious stage show back home this month, as the Chameleon Theater in Port Townsend hosts “Ha Ha Da Vinci” during the weekends of July 19-20 and 26-27.

Growing up with professional magician Joey Pipia as a father, Phina Pipia grew accustomed to having her household filled with rehearsals. She and her sister Sophie found themselves advising their dad on his act.

As she grew older, Phina Pipia explored performing through a variety of disciplines, becoming a professional dancer after her conservatory studies in New York and work with choreographers, then co-founding a production company to stage original musicals, from Manhattan to the broader United States, and even abroad.

Pipia performed as half of a sousaphone duo with her sister, played instruments ranging from bass to tuba in a number of West Coast bands, including the Unexpected Brass Band, and toured as part of the “Psychic Dynasty” magic and mentalism show.

But even as a solo singer-songwriter who released her first album in 2020, Pipia was still searching for something that could allow her to utilize all her skills and interests, all at once. Then she learned how Leonardo da Vinci had illustrated history’s first book on sleight-of-hand magic during the Renaissance.

The book was authored by magician Luca Pacioli, and Pipia was inspired to do further research on Pacioli and Leonardo’s interactions, “to find out everything I could about what these two artists made together, what kind of conversations they had, and how they came up with ideas.”

Especially after her upbringing in a household where her father appeared to defy the laws of physics on a daily basis, Pipia wanted to turn all her talents toward telling a story in which audiences would feel like “anything is possible, from beds playing tunes, to tubas and paintings coming to life, and whatever happened next would always be the most extraordinary thing.”

Pipia’s staged story, in which a young graduate student travels back in time to solve a mystery involving Leonardo and Pacioli, utilizes illusion, music and theatrical performance to tell its tale, and she’s received feedback from audiences that it successfully evoked the feelings of joy and wonder she sought.

Pipia developed “Ha Ha Da Vinci” in residence at the Centrum Foundation for the Arts in 2020, in partnership with the Chameleon Theater in Port Townsend, before touring the U.S. and Canada in 2022 and 2023. The show earned praise from published reviewers in the San Diego Union Tribune, the Orlando Sentinel and Weekly,  the Montreal Gazette and the New York Times.

Pipia’s solo show has likewise won awards from fringe festivals in San Diego, Vancouver, Orlando and Minnesota. She said she’s happy to return to her hometown at 8 p.m. on the Fridays and Saturdays of July 19-20 and 26-27, respectively, at the Chameleon Theater, at 800 W. Park Ave. in Port Townsend, before she eventually debuts “Ha Ha Da Vinci” in Italy.

Pipia, who speaks the Italian language and hails from Italian ancestry, is excited about the prospect of eventually performing this tribute to Leonardo and Pacioli in their home country.

In the meantime, tickets for “Ha Ha Da Vinci” in Port Townsend can be purchased at phinapipia.com online.