James Armstrong

Vance Says He Hopes His Wife Embraces Christianity, Setting Off Backlash

Saw an interesting piece that quotes a professor from my alma mater of Drew University. (This is a gift article from The New York Times that you can read it for free.) www.nytimes.com/2025/10/31/u...

The Wild Duck Last night, I saw Theatre for a New Audience 's production of Henrik Ibsen's The Wild Duck . If you haven't seen it yet, the show is definit...

TFANA's production of THE WILD DUCK is worth seeing. armstrongplays.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-...

Don't worry! He's not a highwayman.

Come out TODAY to the Kips Bay branch of the New York Public Library to join the Friends of Dickens New York as we discuss the opening chapters of A TALE OF TWO CITIES. We'll be meeting on the second floor beginning at 1pm.

Shaw and Cocteau The latest issue of The Shavian  has a fascinating article by Michel Pharand about links between the dramatists Bernard Shaw and Jean Coctea...

Michel Pharand wrote a wonderful article in the latest issue of THE SHAVIAN. armstrongplays.blogspot.com/2025/08/shaw...

The Lady From the Sea When I found out that Hudson Classical Theater Company would be performing an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's The Lady From the Sea , I knew I...

Check out Hudson Classical Theater Company's new adaptation of THE LADY FROM THE SEA in Riverside Park. (It's free!) armstrongplays.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-...

Time is... time was... time has passed.

My poem "Zodiac" will be published in in the Summer 2025 issue of The Soliloquist.

thesoliloquistmagazine.my.canva.site#home

The Roaring Girl Everyone knows that during the Jacobean period all actors were male and women never ever appeared on stage... except when they did. I'm not...

Is Mary Frith your hero now? armstrongplays.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-...

Quote of the day:

"As for interiors, the masquerade ballroom offered artists as diverse as Hugo, Scribe, Auber, Poe, Dumas, and Verdi an exciting place to dramatize what happens when party planning goes tragically wrong."

--Joseph Roach

The Imaginary Invalid Molière 's final play, The Imaginary Invalid , is difficult to perform as written. Prior to last night, the only time I'd seen the piece on ...

Finally caught THE IMAGINARY INVALID armstrongplays.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-...

GC Illustration

I'm begging you to come out to the Kips Bay Branch of the New York Public library on Saturday, June 7th, as the Friends of Dickens New York discusses the final tales in SKETCHES BY BOZ. The meeting begins at 1pm.

Why does the "Big Beautiful Bill" hate Tennessee so much? armstrongplays.blogspot.com/2025/05/shie...

Yes, someone wrote an academic paper on one of my plays. armstrongplays.blogspot.com/2025/04/acad...

Coming to Western Springs I'm very excited that my play After an Earlier Incident  is being workshopped May 1st through 4th at the Theatre of Western Springs outside...

I'm excited about the workshop of my new play opening at the beginning of May. armstrongplays.blogspot.com/2025/04/comi...

New poem out...
www.gyroscopereview.com/wp-content/u...

stolen property

more stolen property

Yup, my book was on the list of works illegally stolen by LibGen and being used to train AI for profit. A review I wrote for #TheatreJournal was on there, too.

Just looked at this database. 7 of my books have been stolen by Meta for their AI database. In 1842 my greatx3 grandfather called for an International Copyright Law to prevent his works being pirated. Now we have that law, yet once again authors are experiencing theft. @societyofauthors.bsky.social

Hey, @laughingacademy.bsky.social, this is also relevant to your interests: event.newschool.edu/unsilentfilm...

a superannuated beau

"Mr Calton was a superannuated beau -- an old boy. He used to say of himself that although his features were not regularly handsome, they were striking."
--Charles Dickens
SKETCHES BY BOZ
"The Boarding-house"

This is not a pipe.

"Of all the dancing academies that ever were established, there never was one more popular in its immediate vicinity than Signor Billsmethi's of the 'King's Theatre'."
--Charles Dickens
SKETCHES BY BOZ
"The Dancing Academy"

One of the splendid infamies of the dramatic stage!

So I was reading some Victorian newspapers online (as ya do) and came across this review of Sarah Bernhardt in LA TOSCA from the London WEEKLY DISPATCH in 1899. It calls the play "one of the splendid infamies of the dramatic stage" that provokes "absolute nausea" due to its "revolting theme."

The Price Arthur Miller's 1968 play The Price  isn't performed very often, so when it does get a production, you're going to want to see it. The Price...

THE PRICE has finally found a home Off-Broadway. armstrongplays.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-...

Garside's Career Yesterday, I saw the Mint Theater Company's production of Garside's Career , Harold Brighthouse's political drama first produced in 1914. Da...

Check out GARSIDE'S CAREER on Theatre Row. armstrongplays.blogspot.com/2025/02/gars...

George Cruikshank's illustration for SKETCHES BY BOZ

Thanks to everyone who came out for the Dickens Birthday Luncheon today!

Coming Soon! I have lots of events coming up over the next several months related--in various ways--to the theatre, both past and present. Today, Februar...

Happy Dickens Day! armstrongplays.blogspot.com/2025/02/comi...

Hey, @laughingacademy.bsky.social! This is relevant to your interests. (Obviously, marchek.bsky.social and I will be there.) engage.metmuseum.org/events/educa...

Kowalski Kowalski , Gregg Ostrin's new play currently running at The Duke on 42nd Street, imagines a possible meeting between playwright Tennessee Wi...

How come nobody ever remembers Margo Jones?
armstrongplays.blogspot.com/2025/01/kowa...

?????

The fair sex should be always fair; and no man,
Till thirty, should perceive there's a plain woman.
--DON JUAN by George Gordon Byron
born on this day in 1788

fresh snowfall on the 20th of January

St. Agnes' Eve--Ah, bitter chill it was!
The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold;
The hare limp'd trembling through the frozen grass,
And silent was the flock in woolly fold...

--John Keats

The parlor at Poe Cottage

Quite a number of people showed up to hear recitations of his work.