Rhode Island theater, for the uninitiated, can be a complex mess of posters, social media events and pages of listings in the local papers. Even those folks who have been going to see shows at Trinity Rep or Theatre by the Sea for 30 years are shocked to hear that, on any given weekend, you […]
Kevin Broccoli is a serious man: artistic director of Rhode Island’s Epic Theatre, author of plays and monologues that have been performed by literally hundreds of actors, and an acclaimed director and actor himself. Yet nothing of his prior years of committed work in theater attracted the kind of viral publicity as his recent Kickstarter […]
With summer drawing to a close, a common theme echoed by many is that it was too short and it was too cool. Yet, even with fall fast approaching, area dance companies are ready to turn up the heat. Following a very busy summer with its summer dance intensive and various performances throughout the summer, […]
PROFESSIONAL It couldn’t be a better time to be a theater-goer in Rhode Island. With eight professional theaters to choose from, the fall season is ripe with gripping dramas, cutting-edge musicals and hysterical comedies to match anyone’s mood. I asked many of the smallest state’s artistic directors what they’ll be bringing to the Rhode Island […]
I don’t know about art, but I know what I like. This frustrating aphorism creates boundaries and absolves the person using it from the burden of responsibility for their opinion. It is how Everyman relates to the aesthetic in much the same way we can spout insensitivity with the qualifier, “I’m just saying…” Both phrases […]
In 1987, Theatre by the Sea was still a Tommy Brent operation and this writer was a teenage intern learning the intricacies of set building, ensemble acting, sound design for musicals and how to pick up a few extra dollars singing in the postshow cabarets. That season featured a nostalgic burlesque review called Sugar Babies, […]
Burbage Theater Company crafted a first-rate production of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar at the William Hall Library in Cranston. A riveting show from beginning to end, this version of the classic tragedy sparkles with electrifying performances. In 44 BC, a few members of the Roman senate, as a means of preventing the ascension of a […]
The Plaids are a 1950s singing group that never was. As an offstage speaker informs us, the four clean-cut males were tragically killed in a crash on their way to their first concert. Forever Plaid, being performed at the Stadium Theatre in Woonsocket on August 9 and 10, features the Plaids delivering a show from […]
Plays with titles intentionally chosen to be unprintable in the mainstream press are usually terrible. The New York Times reviewed the off-Broadway American premiere under the title “___ (The Cockfight Play)” apparently thinking that a long low line would preserve the innocence of their readers, and separately profiled author Mike Bartlett as “The Playwright Who […]
I’ve been lamenting the representation of women playwrights on the American stage since I learned that only 17 percent of all plays produced in the U.S. are written by women. And women playwrights are lamenting as well. In a 2008 New York Times article, playwright Gina Gionfriddo protested the lack of women’s plays produced in […]