Overview
Andy Colpitts is a theatre artist and scholar from the hills of northern New Hampshire. He holds a BA from Brown University in Theatre & Performance Studies and Comparative Literature and an MA in Performing and Media Arts from Cornell University. His scholarly interests include rural identity, political theatre, nostalgia, and popular performance. His dissertation project, entitled Backcountry Onstage: Rural Theatricality and the Performance of Nostalgia, interrogates the creation and dissemination of idyllic imaginaries of rural New England through everyday and theatrical performance from the late nineteenth century to the present day. Beyond the dissertation, Andy’s research focuses on popular performance styles including musical theatre, puppetry, and parades. His work has been published in the Journal for Contemporary Drama in English, MusicTheatreDance, and Dance Chronicle.
As a theatre maker, Andy is a playwright, director, puppeteer, and burlesque dancer (stage name La-Di-Da). He trained at the École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris. He has toured nationally with the Bread & Puppet Theatre and regionally with the Vermont PuppeTree. With British composer Michael Wookey, Andy wrote the book and lyrics of the new musical The Family Copoli: a post-apocalyptic burlesque and repopulation play, which played to critical acclaim at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2025.
Website: andycolpitts.com
In the news
- PMA Ph.D. Candidate Andy Colpitts Publishes Article in MusicTheatreDance Journal
- PMA Podcast Episode 66 - The Family Copoli at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival
- PMAPS Colloquium: Andy Colpitts and Lexi Turner
- PMA Podcast Episode 47: Kelly Richmond & Andy Colpits from the Ithaca Department of Arts and Futures
- The Ithaca Department of Arts and Futures: Strengthening the Ecological Narrative Onstage
- PMA Podcast Episode 46: Andy Colpitts & Michael Wookey from The Family Copoli
- The Family Copoli: a post-apocalyptic burlesque and repopulation play