“I don’t know why I became an actor,” Mr. Arnold has said. “My first memory of a theatre experience was at the age of three, and I was watching my father play the role of Billy Bigelow in the musical “Carousel.” When he fell on his knife and died, I started screaming and my uncle had to carry me out. Backstage after the show, when I saw my dad greeting people, I hurled myself into his arms sobbing in relief.”
Inherit the Wind
Nashville Repertory Theatre
Directed by Rene Copeland
Role: Matthew Harrison Brady
“Inspired by the sensational Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee, this thrilling courtroom drama centers on the prosecution of a teacher who read about Darwin’s The Origin of Species to his science class from their biology book. The attention-grabbing trial becomes a boxing match for the two greatest legal giants of the century. The great storytelling of this classic is enhanced by its ties to actual historical characters, and this riveting drama rings with relevance to our culture’s struggle with the relationship between belief and science that continues to this day.”
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- Henry O. Arnold as Brady and Samuel Whited as the Judge.
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- Henry O. Arnold as Brady and Brian Webb Russell as Drummond.
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- Henry O. Arnold as Brady and Bonita Allen as Mrs. Sarah Brady.
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- Henry O. Arnold as Brady and Brian Webb Russell as Drummond.
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- Henry O. Arnold as Brady and Brian Webb Russell as Drummond.
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- Henry O. Arnold as Brady.
“Rene Copeland has assembled an exceptional cast, starting with Henry O. Arnold as prosecutor Matthew Harrison Brady and Brian Webb Russell as Henry Drummond. Watching these two seasoned pros thunder away at each other is a rare treat that shouldn’t be missed.”
Amy Stumpfl
Nashville Tennessean/USA Today
“Rene Copeland’s casting ability has never felt more on-target than with Henry O. Arnold and Brain Webb Russell, two of the finest leading men to be found on any stage. Watching Arnold and Russell spar in the courtroom is assuredly thrilling.”
Jeffery Ellis
Broadway World
“Rene Copeland directs two of Music City’s most reliable veteran performers, Henry O. Arnold and Brian Webb Russell.”
Martin Brady
Nashville Scene
“Arnold is perfectly strident as Matthew Harrison Brady, delivering his lines with confidence and great vigor while subtly portraying the character’s frailties and own remarkable misgivings, even while never displaying one iota of diffidence.”
Jeffery Ellis
Broadway World
“You MUST go see this show! I wish every high school theatre student in Tennessee could attend this show so they could see, up close, what superb acting looks like watching Chip Arnold, Matthew Carlton, Brian Russell, and Samuel Whited.”
Kristin Dare Horsely
Senior Director for Education Outreach for the TPAC
Posterity
Chip Arnold as Henrik Ibsen
Nashville Repertory Theatre
Directed by Rene Copeland
Role: Henrik Ibsen
Take a world renowned Norwegian playwright, Henrik Ibsen, near the end of his career, and force him into a room with Norway’s favorite sculptor, Gustav Vigeland at the peak of his, whose ambitions require him to persuade a reluctant Ibsen to sit for him. Their battle begins. Debating what a person’s true legacy is – the work achieved during our life or how our loved ones remember us – unexpectedly teaches them something fundamental.
Nashville Repertory Theatre’s production of Posterity, by Doug Wright. Live onstage at Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s (TPAC) Johnson Theater, February 11th through 25th, 2017 with previews February 9th and 10th.
This is the regional premiere of the play by Pulitzer and Tony winner Doug Wright.
Chip Arnold as Ibsen and Patrick as Vigeland
“Chip Arnold brought all of Ibsen’s bluster, insecurity, and depth of feeling to his portrayal of the “great man,” making him irrevocably, painfully human.”
Pulitzer and Tony winning playwright, Doug Wright
“Arnold masterfully plays this emotional trauma pulling the audience into the painful depths of Ibsen’s past. From vanity to insecurity to the freedom that comes from honesty, Arnold gives it his all. The result is one of Nashville Rep’s finest dramatic offerings”
Chad Young
Nashville Parent
“As Ibsen, Chip Arnold adds another epic portrayal to his résumé. Stiffly aged, his craggy visage framed by gray muttonchops, he ably runs the gamut from prideful to humbled to moribund.”
Martin Brady
Nashville Scene
“Chip Arnold is especially masterful as Ibsen — whether thundering away at his critics or quietly sharing moments of personal sorrow and regret. He carefully finesses his character’s physical deterioration, while maintaining a firm grasp on the formidable spirit within.”
Amy Stumpfl
The Tennessean
Death of a Salesman
Nashville Repertory Theatre
Directed by Rene Copeland
Role: Willy Loman
Chip Arnold as Willy Loman
“Arnold’s potent performance adds to his heavyweight resume, his Willy [Loman] evoking and inducing pain with almost every phrase.”
Martin Brady
Nashville Scene
Poster Design by Pat Patrick/Shane Burkeen
“Nashville stage veteran Chip Arnold has brought many powerful performances to roles with several companies. Known for his unforgettable roles, this current one is perhaps his most notable achievement of talent to date. His delivery of Willy Loman is emotionally gripping and believable to the point that audience members feel the torment happening inside Loman’s mind.”
Chad Young
Nashville Parent Magazine
Rona Carter as Linda Loman and Chip Arnold as Willy Loman
“Arnold, stoop-shouldered and forlorn, is in the very depths of the human condition at one moment and then will soar in a way that will take your breath away. His Willy Loman is so believable, so on-the-mark that you might find yourself blanching at times, but make no mistake about it, he is as real as any man who ever walked this earth.”
Jeffrey Ellis
Broadway World
Stand
Writer’s Stage
Directed by David Compton
Role: Mark Seraph
National Tours in 2015, 2017, and 2018:
Barry Scott as JJ and Chip Arnold as Mark
“Arnold and [Barry] Scott are justly admired actors who’ve both put four decades of their lives into their artistic work. Here they play with each other using vivid expression without visible artifice. Putting [playwright] Reyland’s marvelous words into the mouths of two such masterful performers provides entertainment that enlightens and enthralls.”
Evans Donnell
Nashville Arts Magazine
Chip Arnold as Mark
“Arnold offers a sincere portrayal of Mark, a good Samaritan who steps in to help JJ even as he struggles with his own insecurities and disappointments. He carefully walks the line between devotion and frustration, allowing each of JJ’s setbacks to register fully on his face.”
Amy Stumpfl
The Tennessean
A Christmas Carol
Studio Tenn
Directed by Matt Logan
Role: Ebenezer Scrooge
Chip Arnold as Ebenezer Scrooge
“…Arnold has become something of a definitive Scrooge. But it’s more than mere skinflintery and ‘bah humbugs.’ Arnold has a wonderful way of revealing character, choosing just the right moments to remind us that Scrooge was once a man of nobler aspirations. Arnold delivers Dickens’ rich dialogue with zeal, but needs no words to communicate the anguish of a ruined man.”
Amy Stumpfl
The Tennessean
Poster design by Anthony Matula
“Chip is back as Ebenezer Scrooge. I might as well use the word commands again because that’s what he does to the stage when he’s on it. The bitterness, pain and tragedy of a man whose love of money has poisoned every aspect of his life is there to see when we meet Arnold’s Scrooge; his transformation into a man of charity and joy becomes all the more wonderful because Arnold etches out the details like a fine craftsman.”
Evans Donnell
Nashville Arts Magazine
Red
Poster design by Shane Burkeen
Nashville Repertory Theatre
Directed by Rene Copeland
Role: Mark Rothko
Benjamin Reed as Ken and Chip Arnold as Mark Rothko
“Arnold brings that prominent artist to pulsating life, and…absorbs us with the ideas and emotions that pour out of intense interactions…Arnold knows how to fill non-verbal beats with revealing significance.”
Evans Donnell
Nashville Arts Magazine
Chip Arnold as Mark Rothko
“With a freshly shaved head and a pair of round, chunky glasses, Arnold loses himself in Rothko. Beyond this physical transformation, however, he offers a marvelous blend of intelligence, rage and reflection. He is necessarily ferocious at times, and yet Arnold also reveals the character’s tortured heart and the need to be understood as an artist.”
Amy Stumpfl
The Tennessean
Benjamin Reed as Ken and Chip Arnold as Mark Rothko
“…an imposing figure, Arnold is effectively tyrannical, egomaniacal and obsessive. He provides a good sense of the artist’s energy and physical approach to his craft…”
Martin Brady
Nashville Scene
It’s a Wonderful Life
Poster design by Anthony Matula
Studio Tenn
Directed by Matt Logan
Role: Henry F. Potter
Garris Wimmer as the Goon, Chip Arnold as Henry F. Potter and Brent Maddox as George Bailey.
“Chip Arnold lends surprising energy to Henry Potter, punctuating each line with a thoughtful scowl or gesture.”
Amy Stumpfl
The Tennessean
“Veteran villain, Chip Arnold, is perfectly on par as the miserly Henry F. Potter.”
Leah Dennison
Williamson Herald
La Belle et la Bete
Nashville Children’s Theatre
Written and Directed by Scot Copeland
Role: Marchand
Cori Anne Laemmel and Jammie Farmer as Corps L ‘Esprit and Chip Arnold as Marchand
“Chip Arnold is warm and endearing as Belle’s father, Marchand…”
Amy Stumpfl
The Tennessean
“Chip Arnold plays Belle’s devoted father, whose loss of his fortune at the hands of an unscrupulous lawyer sets the plot into its circuitous motion, with the appropriate paternal feelings that are made even more convincing by his anger and unease as his undoing is revealed in the play’s early going.”
Jeffery Ellis
Broadway World
Eric D. Pasto-Crosby as The Beast and Chip Arnold as Marchand
All My Sons
Nashville Repertory Theatre
Directed by Rene Copeland
Role: Joe Keller
Eric D. Pasto-Crosby as Chris Keller and Chip Arnold as Joe Keller
“Chip Arnold gives a stellar performance as Joe Keller, the play’s main character…”
Chad Young
Nashville Parent Magazine
Ruth Cordell as Kate Keller and Chip Arnold as Joe Keller