For J. Barrett Cooper, Idyllwild Arts Academy Theatre Department chair, a playwright’s words are the most important component in producing and presenting a play. “I’m not going to lose the play for a director’s concept,” he said. “The text must support the concept. We serve the playwright, not the director’s concept of a play.” He…

Ron Singerton, next speaker for the Idyllwild Community Center Speaker Series, is an accomplished artist whose art evinces a fine attention to detail. That attention to detail served him well when he began researching his first historical novel, “Villa of Deceit” (Penmore Press, 2015) and its sequel “The Silk and the Sword” (due out this…