John Cameron Mitchell has been pretty busy as an actor for more than three decades now and can be seen in the current season of Mozart in the Jungle, but his fame rests largely on his having written, directed and starred in both the original 1998 Off-Broadway version and the 2001 movie version of the cult rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Among his most recent projects was directing a film based on Neil Gaiman’s short story “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” (this being a Gaiman tale, one of said girls turns out to be an alien), which stars Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning. It’s due for general release in May.
Part-time Bard College professor Gaiman is back in the Hudson Valley after several busy months showrunning the new TV mini-series Good Omens in the UK and South Africa, and is now resuming his duties on campus. His usual spring-semester live “Conversation with…” on the main stage of the Fisher Center, scheduled for this Friday, March 16, has just undergone a radical change of program: The guest originally booked, Daniel Handler a/k/a children’s author Lemony Snicket, bailed out “due to unforeseen changes in his schedule.”
Fortunately, the last-minute substitution of John Cameron Mitchell as interviewee is one that should make a lot of people happy. At last report, a few “nosebleed seats” were still available at $25 (free to Bard students, faculty and staff). A question-and-answer session will follow the talk. The show starts at 8 p.m., but arrive early to fill out an index card with your question if you’d like to participate. To order tickets, visit https://fishercenter.bard.edu or call the box office at (845) 758-7900. The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts is located at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson.