Author Archives: Christopher Arnott

The Yale School of Drama has announced the titles and directors for its 2012 Carlotta Festival of New Plays. Who the playwrights would be was never in doubt. As ever, they’re the graduating class from the YSD’s playwriting program. In this case, they’re the last to leave the Department of Playwriting before it welcomes its … Continue reading »

From a pint-sized Riverdale parody of a certain urban romantic musical, as documented in the story “Flip Side Story” from Little Archie Digest Magazine #8 (August 1992). The saga is scripted and pencilled by Dan Parent, inked by Jon D’Agostino. The “Maria” gag is inspired, don’tcha think? Rest assured, the story opens with the joke … Continue reading »

For instance, now my focus involves very little: a lecture on music. My music. But it is not a lecture, nor is it music. It is, of necessity, theater. What else? if I choose as I do music, I get theater, that, that is I get that too. Not just this, the two. —John Cage, … Continue reading »

Long Wharf Theatre is one of three finalists for $10.000 from the National Coporate Theatre Fund, to be used towards theater education programs. The process involved getting supporters of the theater to vote for Long Wharf’s contest entry. The theater inserted a flier about the NCTF challenge into its programs for its recent productions of … Continue reading »

Strone’s a darned good actor,” Isaac Bell told Archie. “Actor? What do you mean?” “Ten-to-one he’s British Military Intelligence.” Archie Abbott looked more closely. “And twenty-to-one,” Bell added, “he’s not retired.” Archie, who himself would have become an actor if his mother had not forbidden such a leap from society’s bosom, nodded agreement. “No bet.” … Continue reading »

The Long Wharf Theatre has the whole three-person cast set for its season-ending production of My Name is Asher Lev. I posted a few weeks ago ago the welcome news that Mark Nelson is on board as the multi-purpose character known in Aaron Posner as “Man.” There’s also “Woman,” to be played by Melissa Miller, … Continue reading »

Peter Schumann, the grizzled godfather of modern grass-roots political puppetry, is doing his famous Fiddle Talk at Wesleyan University next Monday—7 p.m. on April 9 at the school’s Center for the Arts CFA Hall. Details here. It’s a rare chance to see Schumann speak in Connecticut. The progressive theater legend has been based in Northern … Continue reading »

The Duncan Sheik episode of the new BYUtv series The Song That Changed My Life is viewable here. What’s BYUtv? The media outlet of Brigham Young University. There’s no direct connection here—Brigham Young is a Mormon institution and Sheik is a Buddhist who studied Semiotics at Brown University. I was a Duncan Sheik fan from … Continue reading »

I’ve had several entreaties, wondering when the next of my quirky Play in a Day children’s theater projects will happen. They tend to happen during school holidays, and there was no such animal in March, so I’ve decided that in April we’ll have two Plays in a Days. The first will be this Friday (Good … Continue reading »

What sort of dodgy acting instruction texts are they selling over there at the Riverdale Book Nook? An extract from Jughead’s Double Digest #24 (Jan. 1996).