“You score too many points, they’ll change the rules.” The first non-Christmas Carol show I ever saw at Trinity Rep was an unforgettable production of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson starring two local legends — Rose Weaver and Ricardo Pitts-Wiley. As I sat in my seat on opening night of Trinity’s latest production — Wilson’s Radio […]
Alan Hawkridge, a director with a diverse theatrical background (and quite a wit, as demonstrated in the lengthy preshow curtain speech), directs The Players’ production of The Country House by Donald Margulies. A theatrical family has come back to their summer home for the annual Williamstown Theatre Festival. A death in the family the previous year […]
It’s opening night at Glass Horse Project in New Bedford. I’ve read up on Sarah Ruhl’s play based on the Greek myth — Eurydice was the wife of Orpheus, who painstakingly tried to bring her back from the dead with his enchanting music (or, in this adaptation, his letters, too). I walk into what was […]
There’s Scottish music, wild drunken karaoke antics and Hell. If there was a word to describe Prudencia Hart’s undoing, “strange” is it. After years of waiting for the performance rights, Wilbury Theatre Group is finally bringing this wild ride, The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart (directed by Brien Lang), to the stage (and a few […]
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 […]