A close friend of mine who was once head of admissions for an elite prep school in Massachusetts would often tell the story of the moment he decided that his mission to cultivate diversity within the incoming student body was not panning out. The school is nestled in an ethnically homogenous environment (read: white) and […]
Funda Fest returns this month. For full coverage, go to motifri.com/funda2020 The schedule of events follows. Jan 20: Providence Children’s Museum: MLK Amazing Grace, 100 South St, PVD. Free! 11:30am, 1pm, 2:30pm Jan 21: Knight Memorial Library, 275 Elmwood Ave, PVD. Free! 10am. Featured storyteller: V. Raffini. Jan 25: North Kingstown Free Library, 100 Boone […]
Parade is an ironically cheery title for a musical that is unapologetically dark. Based on a true and pivotal event in American legal, social and political history, Parade dramatizes the 1913 trial of Leo Frank, a Jewish factory superintendent accused of murdering a factory worker under his employ. The events surrounding the trial lead to […]
Suddenly Last Summer began its off-Broadway run in 1958, and was adapted into a movie one year later. Sixty-two years after its initial release, this Tennessee Williams one-act is still going strong at Epic Theatre in Cranston under the direction of Geoff Leatham. Artist’s Exchange’s 50 Rolfe Square space is cozy and quaint, designed to […]
Funda Fest, the annual celebration of black storytelling presented by Rhode Island Black Storytellers (RIBS), will take place throughout the state from January 25 through February 2. The Festival is in its 22nd year. “‘Funda’ means ‘to teach and to learn’ in Zulu and Kiswahili,” explained RIBS co-founder and executive director Valerie Tutson. “We got […]
Scottish border ballads, rhyming couplets and site-specific performances at local bars make Wilbury’s The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart seem more like an offering better suited for the annual FringePVD festival than their first mainstage offering of 2020. Fitting, as David Greig’s acclaimed play about an academic’s somewhat supernatural journey of self-discovery eschews traditional stage […]
Though the play involves hand puppets, Robert Ashkin’s Hand to God explores issues like sexual repression, sexual deviance, violence, alcoholism, compulsive overeating and death; and, therefore, is NOT meant for children. This is a play for an adult audience to get down with their flawed selves. The Burbage Theatre Company has boldly decided to take […]
Fade is a play you really, really want to like. It has characters you rarely get to see onstage, a playwright with an interesting perspective, and an environment that seems ripe for examination — the world of television. Yet, in spite of all of that, Tatyana-Marie Carlo’s production of Tanya Saracho’s two-hander is a bunch […]
Christmas plays can be a quick and easy way for a theater to grab some cash and provide an easy holiday junket for folks who want to revel in the season. Rarely, however, can these efforts stand alone as a piece of theater that is compelling enough in, say, April or October. Trinity’s current take […]
Dysfunctional families are pretty much a dime-a-dozen on stage. In Clare Barron’s You Got Older, however, the dysfunction is not attributed to family, but to life in its many ups and downs and unexpected turns. While my first thought was to compare this play to other shows that revolve around family — Fun Home, a […]