The Playwrights Database
CHARLIE BETHEL
(1965 - )Nationality: USA
email: Click here to contact Website: Click here
Literary Agent: n/a
Charlie Bethel is an actor/writer based in New York City. He's also worked as a director, stage manager, producer, electrician, milliner, and properties and set dressing artist. His solo performances have played coast to coast at numerous venues, among them, Cincinnati Playhouse, Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences (Charleston, WV), a couple of Fringe Festivals, Joseph Campbell's Centenary Celebration at the esalen Institute (Big Sur, Ca-it was a blast, ask him about it!), and Cape May Stage (Cape May, NJ). Other Theaters where he's worked: the Guthrie Theater, Trinity Rep, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Minnesota Shakespeare Project, Southwest Shakespeare Company, North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Minnesota Opera, Opera Memphis, Steppenwolf, econo-art Theater Company, Red Bones, Next Theater Company, apple Tree Theatre, the Jungle Theater, the Children's Theatre Company, Illusion Theater, Trinity ensemble, and CalibanCo. Outside the Theater, Charlie has been a writer for Red Farm Films, a filthy joke generator for Innovisions Greeting Card Company, a seamanship instructor, a cook, a gardener, a florist, and a surveyor of graveyards. a native Southerner, Charlie is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts, and he comes from a long line of talkers.
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below is a list of Charlie Bethel's plays - click on a Play Title for more information
Beowulf Gilgamesh Seven Poor Travellers, The Tom Thumb, Or the Tragedy Of TragediesBeowulf
Synopsis:
Much simplified, the plot encompasses the story of a man who kills monsters, enjoys hearty friendships and fruitful alliances, becomes a king and then dies in battle with a dragon. Written down around 900 c.e., the cultural roots of the poem go back past the dawn of literacy. Its themes are timeless and archetypal: the impermanence of life, the certainty of the Ultimate Uncertainty of Mortality and the courage required to engage in the simple act of living. these are all issues that have focused the human experience relentlessly, and the transmission of these concerns among our fellow humans predates our ability to even speak.
Notes:
Translation/adaptation based on many Available versions. Written in 1993, this piece rehearsed for seven years before its first performance.
1st Produced:
the Jungle, Minneapolis, MN 2001
Organisations:
Charlie Bethel
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Solo, Drama, mythic Monologue play
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageGilgamesh
Synopsis:
Friendship and enmity. Joy and Lament. Gods and Men. Life and Death. Huge antitheticals of the human experience come together in this 3,000 year-old tale from ancient Mesopotamia. Cross into the underworld with the king who did not want to die, and learn the Big Secret of the Gods. Of the many stories that have formed our collective sense of self, this is the one that contains the deepest, most ancient source of all our beliefs about ourselves, the universe, and our place in it. Since its (re-)discovery, 'Gilgamesh' has captivated people with its archetypal, dreamlike imagery and a bizarre line of action resembling something like a Robitussin overdose: a wild-man and a king become friends, and when the wild-man dies the king attempts to rescue his friend by traveling to the underworld, only to discover that (a) life really is just as hopeless as we had imagined it to be, that (b) such hopelessness is powerless in the face of joy, and (c) why it is that our relationship with the gods is so dysfunctional.
Notes:
Translation/adaptation based on many Available versions.
1st Produced:
Illusion Theatre, Minneapolis, MN 2005
Organisations:
Charlie Bethel
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Solo, Drama, mythic Monologue play
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageSeven Poor Travellers, The
Synopsis:
"Travellers" unfolds as a story within a story. On Christmas eve, a traveller happens upon an on old english charity/hostel and provides for a holiday feast for six other visitors, weary from a day's journey. Gathering food and drink, he places himself in the center of this group. as the dark advances, he regales his new friends with a tale of heroism, nobility and ultimate forgiveness. the tale within a tale Is that of Richard Doubledick, a ne'er-do-well who joins the army to get himself killed, but who Is saved from this fate by a young captain who befriends him. When the captain gets killed In battle, Richard vows to avenge the death, spends the next decade tracking down the killer, and when they finally meet, Richard must confront one of the basic Issues of humanity: that forgiveness always trumps revenge, no matter what's happened In your past, and forgiveness will transform your pain Into a joy that transcends everything else.
Notes:
Words by Charles Dickens, Adapted by Charlie Bethel.
1st Produced:
Illusion Theatre, Minneapolis, MN 2005
Organisations:
Illusion Theatre, Minneapolis, MN and Charlie Bethel
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
Solo, tragicomedy Monologue play
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
Top of PageTom Thumb, Or the Tragedy Of Tragedies
Synopsis:
a solo, 18th century-style romp, bawdy and lascivious, with Heroes, Villains, courtiers, maids of honor, Ghosts, pages, guards, Rebels, daggers, Cow, trumpets, thunder, lightning, &c, &c, &c, and other Decorations proper to Tragedy. Music, song, dance, intrigue, love affairs, confetti cannons, swordfights and death. Solo show. Fast and funny. We kid you not. Tom Thumb, a little hero with a great soul, having killed the giants, arrives at King arthur's court to woo the lovely and highly sexual Princess Huncamunca. the Princess falls in love with Lord Grizzle and Thumb simultaneously. the Queen gets drunk. a rebellion is squelched, and Merlin reveals the fate of our little hero. He will someday be eaten by a red cow of larger than usual size. Life is short, art is long, and love, well, love is simply eternal.
Notes:
Words by Henry Fielding, mostly. Adaptation And Additional dialogue by Charlie Bethel And Anthony Paul.
1st Produced:
Ritz Theatre, Minneapolis, MN 2007
Organisations:
Chopping Block, Minneapolis, MN and Charlie Bethel
1st Published:
- -
Music:
-
To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies
Booksellers:
Genre:
solo comedy Monologue play
Parts:
Male: 1 Female: - Other: -
Further Reference:
-
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