Playwright

James Armstrong has had his plays performed across the United States and abroad by such theaters as the Abingdon Theatre Company (Foggy Bottom), Playwrights’ Forum (The Metric System), the Epiphany Theater Company (A Christmas Carol), and The Attic Ensemble (The Four Doctors Huxley).

His one-act play Birdgirl on Walkabout was voted by audiences as “Best Play” at Boston Playwrights’ Platform’s 28th Annual Summer Festival of New Plays and is now published by Norman Maine Publishing. His theater for young audience pieces Muddin’ in Chumuckla and The Pirate Princess are published by Eldridge Plays and Musicals. He also wrote the book for the musicals Keep On Walkin’ and Ordinary Island (formerly Maggie the Pirate).

New York has seen several of his short plays, including The New Mrs. Jones (now published by Brooklyn Publishers) at the Theatre-Studio Inc., The Sign in the Scarlet Prison at Theater for the New City, Searching for St. Anthony at the Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Festival, and When Ladies Go A-Thieving at the American Globe Theatre.

However, he has also had success at regional theaters around the country. His adaptation of Moby-Dick premiered at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater on Cape Cod, and this spring saw the world premiere of Capital at Detroit Repertory Theatre. The Nittany Theatre at the Barn chose his play Dark Night of the Soul as the winner of the 2017 National Free Speech Contest. It received a script-in-hand reading at the Nittany Theatre in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania in September, followed by additional readings in Florida on October 26th and 27th.

James holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama and is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America. He also recently earned a Ph.D. in theatre from City University of New York.

If you’re interested in Dark Night of the Soul or any of his other works, please contact him at:

armstrongwrites [at] gmail [dot] com