Charles Manson finally died last night, at 11:13pm Eastern Time Sunday. I don’t think anyone who is too young to personally remember the 1960s can come close to understanding why his particular brand of evil never quite faded, and why he still received about four fan letters daily until his death. I believe that the […]
Holiday-themed dance performances from nearly every Rhode Island company will open the season, ranging from traditional to contemporary work. The Rhode Island College Dance Company (ric.edu/pas) will host the Bang Group, Friday (Dec 1) and Saturday (Dec 2) at Sapinsley Hall, in a collaboration called Nut/Cracked, “an ode to American eclecticism” they describe as “The Nutcracker, […]
“The proudest empire in Europe is but a bubble compared to what America will be, must be, in the course of two centuries – perhaps of one,” wrote Gouverneur Morris in 1800, who is most remembered for drafting the text of the Constitution, beginning with the words “We the People.” What motivated Morris’ prediction was […]
The increasing likelihood of cascading failures is the most important thing the press has missed about the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico, devastated by Hurricane Maria. By knocking out the entire electrical grid, supplies of clean and safe water, telecommunications and roads, the storm unraveled the complicated web of infrastructure that underpins modern life. It […]
Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett is one of the notoriously polarizing plays of the 20th century: People either love it or hate it. Personally, it is one of my favorite plays because it is the epitome of theatrical form: It cannot be explained, but only experienced. It is impossible to get any sense of […]
One wants to like Eclipsed: it is about a naturally sympathetic subject and it is well acted by The Players at the Barker Playhouse, but ultimately the script was poorly written. It is the first and only significant play by Patricia Burke Brogan, who is primarily known in her native Ireland for her painting and […]
Some people love to be scared and are willing to pay for the experience, accounting for the popularity of haunted attractions ranging from the tiny involving only a few people to the nationally known with a cast of hundreds. Traditionally tied in with the Halloween season, most are open Thursday through Sunday in October. Known […]
Richard Griffin has directed 24 feature films in the last 14 years through Rhode Island-based Scorpio Film Releasing, which he runs with his husband and producer, Ted Marr. This article combines excerpts from a single interview. Current projects On November 5 we’re premiering a film called Strapped for Danger, which is a comedy, kind of […]
Christopher Columbus has become a controversial figure: He is simultaneously honored by the Italian-American community as their foremost symbolic personage and reviled by Native Americans as the bringer of near-genocide. In Providence, Columbus Square features one of the nation’s most recognized statues of Columbus, refabricated in bronze a year after the display of an identical […]
The entering freshman class at the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) for fall 2017 includes the first beneficiaries of a new program that offers free tuition to RI residents who in 2017 either were graduated from high school (public, private or homeschooled) or completed the General Educational Development (GED) test while younger than 19 […]