The Upstage Interview: Courtney Larkin on The Last Days of Judas Iscariot

Judge Judas

Upstage Host Eric Sukhu spoke with Assistant Director Courtney Larkin about Concordia Theatre’s presentation of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. Below is an abridged version edited by Estelle Rosen, CharPo Editor-in-chief.

UPSTAGE:  Tell us about this play

LARKIN: It’s a courtroom drama re-evaluating the appeal of Judas Iscariot and whether or not he should be in Hell for betraying Jesus. We have a cast of interesting characters including witnesses for the prosecution and the defense to testify for and against Judas. Some of the witnesses include Sigmund Freud, Mother Teresa, and Pontius Pilate. Even Satan makes an appearance.

UPSTAGE: Is this a new play?

LARKIN: Written in 2005, it has  been presented at Lab Workshop in New York.

Sunday Feature: Christine Jones, Tony-winning designer

A video clip from the current Broadway production of American Idiot with Christine Jones' Tony-winning work in full evidence

The Little Montrealer That Could
"...there are a thousand ways to have a life in the theatre...you just have to find your tribe."

David King

In the 1980s, Christine Jones was a bored English Lit student at both Marianapolis College and Concordia University. American born and raised in Montreal, she found her thrills assisting Marianopolis theatre professor Victor Garaway with design, set building and scenic painting at the college. It was Garaway who suggested she apply to Concordia's Theatre Department and become a scenographer.

"A stenographer?" asked Jones. "No, a 'scenographer,'" Garaway told her.

Interviewing at Concordia with a primitive portfolio and a prayer, Jones landed herself a spot in Concordia’s Design For the Theatre Program, where she graduated in 1989. Hugely self-critical of her own work, says Eric Mongerson in a recent interview for Concordia University Magazine, Jones eventually found her path with the constant encouragement of mentors like Mongerson and [professor] Ana Cappelluto.