Marcy Arlin
Theatre: Director; Artistic Director of OBIE-winning Immigrants’ Theatre Project
Brooklyn, New York USA
Two productions lured me into theatre with the magic of costume, light and transformation: The Caucasian Chalk Circle at Lincoln Center and The Tempest, at Stratford, CT. Ariel’s costume, and the escaping mother on the turntable of the Vivian Beaumont…magic.
I also saw the San Francisco Mime Troupe. Funny, entertaining, and meaningful. Then there was Short Eyes at the Public, Story Theatre at my elementary school…Growing up in one of the few multicultural neighborhoods on Long Island….
Working on Journey Theatre, with survivors of war and torture, for 8 months, convinced me of the importance of theatre and social change. And how to really work with marginalized populations, who may not consider themselves marginalized.
My favorite book/author? Yikes. Well, I have to say that Ursula LeGuin, daughter of the anthropologist Kroebers. Earthsea Trilogy and Left Hand of Darkness.
Favorite play? Blood Wedding.
Favorite pop culture guilty pleasure? Young adult and TV sci fi. Love collecting multicultural non-verbal language.
I dream of going to Patagonia to meet whales and penguins, or the Great Barrier Reef to snorkel among the corals. To help animals. To write a novel. To direct a play a year outside of the U.S.
What they don’t know about me? I wanted to be an anthropologist in college, I studied a lot of Tai Chi, and I can watch birds for hours.
Marcy Arlin. LCT Directors Lab, TWB, No Passport; Fulbrights: Romania, Czech Republic. Favorite projects: Eastern European Playwrights: Women Write the New; East/West/East: Vietnamese Immigrants Out of War, Journey Theatre w/ survivors of torture, Tropic of X (Germany), readings at MESTC, Sweet Karma (QTIP). Co-Editor, Czech Plays: 7 New Works. Professor at CUNY, Yale, University of Chicago. Marcy’s Blog at TCG
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