Arin Arbus: The Core of the Play’s the Thing

AMERICAN THEATRE: For more than a decade, Arin Arbus has directed classical productions of engaging clarity and warmth, notable for scrupulous attention to the text and a welcome absence of gimmicky contemporary trappings. But the performances shaped by her hands, chiefly at Brooklyn’s Theatre for a New Audience, where she is resident director, never seem like museum pieces; on the contrary, they have a freshness and vitality that stems from her conviction that however long ago the particular piece was written, it has something to say to audiences today.