Author Archives: Christopher Arnott
In Praise of Proper Program Books
The International Festival of Arts & Ideas has manifested itself many ways, including the ways it documents itself while it’s happening. The festival has always offered helpful programs for its theater events. Usually, there’s been one big program which encompasses the whole festival—the way the Shubert in New Haven and other “presentation houses” in the … Continue reading
Who’s New at O’Neill: 2013 Nat’l Playwrights Conference Cast and Directors Announced
The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center knows who will be in the seven plays of its National Playwrights Conference, which runs July 3-27. The playwrights and plays— David Auburn (Lost Lake), Jeff Augustin (Little Children Dream of God), Bekah Brunstetter (The Oregon Trail), Michael Yates Crowley (Evanston: A Rare Comedy), Samuel D. Hunter (A Great Wilderness), … Continue reading
Punch Up the Puppetry
Last weekend Connecticut theatergoers could choose between the culminating public performances of the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford and the opening weekend of the Handspring Puppet Company/Bristol Old Vic production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (in photo above) at the International Festival of Arts & Ideas. If that’s not … Continue reading
Me Blabbing About A&I on the Radio with Others Better Suited to the Task
Spent an hour this afternoon behind a microphone in the lobby of The Study hotel on Chapel Street, as one of six special guests of the Colin McEnroe show on WNPR. The topic was the International Festival of Arts & Ideas which is consuming downtown through June 29. The others on the show were: composer … Continue reading
Arts & Ideas Knows New Theater
Some folks flock to the International Festival of Arts & Ideas for the big names who play on New Haven Green, but the festival has become just as well known for its audacious programming and its progressive next-wave outlook. Theaterwise, yes, this is the festival that once brought over the mediocre present-day D’Oyly Carte Opera … Continue reading
Oh, Streetcar!
The Yale Repertory Theatre knows who’ll be screaming “Stella” on its stage in September. Joe Manganiello—werewolf Alcide Herveaux from the toothy romance HBO True Blood—will be Stanley in Mark Rucker’s production of the Tennessee Williams classic A Streetcar Named Desire at the Rep Sept. 20 through Oct. 12. That casting coup has been reported by … Continue reading
Rep Airs
Here’s a photo of how the Yale Repertory Theatre looked last August. Here’s a photo of how it looks this week. In between, of course, the Yale Rep hosted an entire season of plays and special performance events, not least of them Paul Giamatti as Hamlet. The building is like some freakish cocoon which … Continue reading
The Theater Jerk Guide to New Releases on Netflix
Been a while since I did this, but I like to point out vague theatrical themes in films recently added to the vast repositories of Netflix. These are the types of flicks I personally seek out and plan to watch. Go figure. In no particular order… Carry On Cowboy and Carry on Cleo. A couple … Continue reading
Yalies Rule in California
I’ve sucked so much at blogging regularly here in the last few months, blowing off dozens of potential preview stories, that local readers have every right to be annoyed that I’ve jumped in to mention a show happening in Los Angeles California by some Yale School of Drama alums who graduated three or four years … Continue reading
The Tartuffe Review
Tartuffe Through June 15 at the Yale Summer Cabaret, 217 Park Street, New Haven. (203) 432-1566, www.yalecabaret.org. By Moliere. Translated by Richard Wilbur. Directed by Dustin Wills. Scenic Designer: Kate Noll. Costume Designer: Seth Bodie. Lighting Designer: Oliver Wason. Composer: Rob Greenfield. Sound Designer: Steve Brush. Production Manager/Technical Director: James Lanius. Stage Manager: Geoff Boronda. … Continue reading