Philip ‘Phil’ Arnoult, founder of Baltimore’s Theatre Project and champion of global performing troupes, dies

Philip Arnoult, the founder of Baltimore’s Theatre Project who went on to champion global performing arts troupes, died of multiple system failure Sunday at the Sanctuary, a senior living community in Charlotte, North Carolina. He was 83 and lived in Chinquapin Park.

Mr. Arnoult founded the arts group in 1971 as a part of Antioch College’s old Baltimore division. It began as Baltimore’s Free Theatre and remains a showcase for U.S. and international companies on West Preston Street.

“I certainly admired Phil’s energy and ability to maneuver avant garde, artistic enterprises within a commercial society,” said Earl Arnett, a former Baltimore Sun reporter and business associate.  “What made him special was his combination of theatrical flair and knowledge with an astute appreciation of money and how it can be used in a hostile, indifferent American culture.

“Philip also had a large imagination with international dimensions,” Mr. Arnett said. “He saw how theater could inspire social change and awareness, and he could successfully deal with local politicians.”

Mr. Arnoult suggested the Theatre Project as the location for Ethel’s Place, home of jazz artist Ethel Ennis, who was married to Mr. Arnett before her 2019 death.

“Phil had the idea of Ethel and me as cultural ambassadors for Baltimore — roles we  played in Holland, China, Turkey and elsewhere. He saw possibilities that others either ignored or never perceived,” Mr. Arnett said.

Mr. Arnoult initially adopted a policy of passing his floppy hat for admission to the performances he mounted.

“Our Baltimore audiences were getting to see amazing work from around the world,” said John Strausbaugh, a longtime associate. “There were nights when that hat was far from full and other nights when the money filled to the brim. It used to upset me, but that was what Phil intended.”

A 1996 Sun story said , “Arnoult wears enough hats to keep Stetson running three shifts. Catching up with him is a bit like trying to board a trans-Atlantic jet on the runway at BWI.”

“Phil Arnoult has got the imperious but charming style of a benign monarch,” the article continued. “You could easily see him as Teddy Roosevelt. He’s burly, but fit-looking at 55, ruddy-faced, with silky white hair thinning a bit but still wavy, [and] a nicely tended whitish beard flecked with gray.”

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, he was the son of graphic artist Phil Canale Arnoult and Mary Highberger, a homemaker. While a student at Christian Brothers High School, he was kept after classes one day and happened to see a group of female students arrive at the all-boys school for a theatrical production.

“He saw the girls and looked in the auditorium. He opened that door and never looked back,” said his daughter, Alison Arnoult Van Pelt.

He earned a bachelor’s degree at Memphis State University and a master’s degree at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

While in the Army he was stationed in West Germany, where he prepared plays and entertainment for U.S. service personnel. He came to Maryland as part of the Ohio-based Antioch College’s experimental second campus.

Mr. Arnoult also was the founder of the Center for International Theatre Development and championed small theater troupes from Europe, Africa and Asia. He designed the U.S./Netherlands Touring and Exchange Project for Dutch troupes to perform in the U.S. and American companies in Holland, with an emphasis on youth theater.

In the 1980s, he was among those who brought an International Theatre Festival to Baltimore. He worked with the old Morris A. Mechanic Theatre’s director Hope Quackenbush and T. Edward Hambleton, a Baltimorean who became a New York theater producer.

“The festival was a magical two week assemblage and for those days made Baltimore the center of the international theatre world,” said Stanley Heuisler, a former Baltimore Magazine editor. “Phil was one of those Baltimore originals: originators who were bright and whose creativity lead them to find a specialty and never stop and end up known all over the world for it.”

Related Articles

• News Obituaries | Robert Towne, Oscar-winning writer of ‘Chinatown,’ dies at 89
• News Obituaries | Sally Ransom-Knecht, nursing executive whose experience with a deadly crime in Baltimore led her to become a victim’s advocate, dies
• News Obituaries | Sam Butcher, who gave the world precious moments, dies
• News Obituaries | Kenneth Earl ‘Ken’ McElroy Jr., environmental engineer who founded a summer camp for Baltimore children, dies
• News Obituaries | Dr. Eric M. Fine, pediatrician who later earned degree in fine arts, dies

Mr. Arnoult was married twice. His first wife, Barbara F. Neill, whom he met in college, died in a 1974 car accident. He then married Carol Baish with whom he worked closely. She died in May at age 85.

After retiring from Theatre Project, he formed the Center for International Theater Development.

“Philip Arnoult was a theater visionary. His personality was larger than life, and as huge as his dreams for the world,” said a colleague, John Wilson. “As a Southerner, he was always warm and welcoming — often delivering a bear hug from this large man. …

“He was deeply inspired by the Polish director Jerzy Grotowski, and would do backflips to support any theater company who subscribed to his approach to theater development,” said Mr. Wilson, a Theatre Project board member for 27 years.

“Phil was all about pushing boundaries,” Mr. Wilson also said. “He’d push, but behind it there was always a wink and a grin. I’ve often thought of his love of puppet theater as a fitting analogy for how he pulls the strings on so many productions and collaborations. He was such a benevolent manipulator.”

Survivors include his daughter, Alison Arnoult Van Pelt, of Charlotte, North Carolina; a brother, Michael Arnoult, of Germantown, Tennessee; three stepsons, Sean Brann, of Somerville, Massachusetts, Michael Brann, of Newton, Massachusetts, and Terry Brann, of Frederick; and five grandchildren.