This continues a series of interviews where Epic artistic director Kevin Broccoli interviews other ADs in the area to create a more in-depth conversation about theater in Rhode Island. This month’s interview is with Trinity’s artistic director Curt Columbus. Kevin Broccoli: Trinity opened their season this year with two shows in rep, Skeleton Crew and […]
RI’s Devised Theater Festival, created by recently returned RI ex-pat David Ledoux’s First Day Productions, debuted in October at the newly renovated Mixed Magic Theatre on Mineral Spring Avenue. The fest challenges local makers of theater to create short (less than 15 minutes) original works with only two weeks to conceive, write, tech, troubleshoot and […]
The Stadium’s new production of Footloose the Musical will transport audiences back to the glory of the 1980s from November 3 through 5. Footloose is about a spirited teenager named Ren who leads a rebellion in a small farm town after the town elders ban dancing and rock music. The musical has all the […]
I’ve seen a handful of productions at the Stadium Theatre, and I’m consistently blown away by their talent and their production value. It’s not even a matter of being good for a community theater group – they’re easily on the level of a professional production. As good as they’ve been in the past, however, nothing […]
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 […]
Most musicals cover lofty themes central to the human experience – the likes of revolution, forbidden love, revenge, defying societal expectations and fantasy worlds. Then there are shows like The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which is about, well, a spelling bee. Unless you’re really into competitive spelling, it probably doesn’t sound like a […]
Newport Playhouse & Cabaret Restaurant’s newest offering is The Crazy Time, a laugh-filled look at men struggling to understand why the women they find so desirable don’t actually want to stick with them for very long. Being a Sam Bobrick comedy, the odds are that the lessons learned will be few, the jokes will be […]
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 […]
Rhode Island has the highest population of persons living with disabilities in New England according to U.S. Census data. It makes sense that Tom Griffin’s 1988 play, The Boys Next Door, which is about four adults with various diagnoses living in a shared apartment, resonates with Rhode Island audiences. The script in turns humanizes the […]
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 […]