Inherit the Wind is one of the great plays of the past century and Ocean State Theatre Company does it due justice as a masterpiece, originally produced in 1955 at the height of McCarthyism. In his “director’s note” in the program, Fred Sullivan, Jr., compares it to other political plays that reach general principles beyond […]
If you know the music of Tom Lehrer, underground satirist of the 1950s and counter-cultural television star of the 1960s, Tom Foolery is a revue that will trigger waves of nostalgia. The musical and its song selection date from 1980, only a few years removed from Lehrer’s active performance days which, it is worth noting, […]
If there is one thing I love about community theater, it is the obvious heart and soul that go into each production, and Granite Theatre did not disappoint in that department. This company has a lot of heart, and it shows in their production of Communicating Doors by Alan Ayckbourn, running through April 9. Communicating […]
Burbage Theatre Company’s production of Nicky Silver’s The Altruists is about a group of liberal activists who claim to care about women’s rights, gay rights, the plight of the homeless and other social issues, but are so self-centered and shallow they really seem incapable of doing anything. Director Vince Petronio says of the characters, “They […]
Telling people that I was going to review the Wilbury Group’s production of Mr. Burns, I got a few variations on the same response: “Maybe I don’t know a lot about theater – the only Mr. Burns I know is the one on ‘The Simpsons!’” That is, in fact, the one. Anne Washburn’s play, subtitled […]
Anyone who knows Rhode Island knows that Rose Weaver is an icon who works in stage, film and television. She sometimes graces the steps of the state house with her powerful singing voice and has numerous awards to match her endless credentials. Now she’s bringing dinner theater to the state with her show Menopause Mama. […]
The latest in a series of biography plays written by Leonard Schwartz, Goodbye and Hurry Back is about the romance between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall that began in 1944 on the set of her first movie, To Have and Have Not, when she was 19 and he was 44. Although at the Arctic Playhouse, […]
This is your last week to catch The Gamm’s new virtual tech thriller The Nether, receiving a taught, well-acted staging now through March 26. Fans of Netflix’s techno-horror TV series “Black Mirror” will be thrilled to hear that author Jennifer Haley’s disturbing digital drama offers up much of the same type of sharp writing, dark […]
In 1997 I had the opportunity to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Mrs. Mumford’s English class. This was important for two reasons: one the show’s memory stayed with me for 20 years, and two, I enter my classroom on a daily basis aspiring to be half the teacher Mrs. Carol Mumford was. Twenty years […]
One of the most beloved of William Shakespeare’s plays is Romeo and Juliet, the tale of two star-crossed lovers from two feuding families – the Montagues and the Capulets. The charming Romeo (Austin Venditelli) is smitten with the fair-haired Juliet (Kristin Wedel McGuirk), who faces resistance from her strong-willed father (Andrew Stigler), and Stigler […]