Years ago I stage-managed a production of Neil Simon’s farce Rumors. We had this great big proscenium arch stage that we filled with a two-level home, the setting for Charlie and Myra’s 10th anniversary party. The set had plenty of doors, and of course stairs, as the script makes mention of the stairs multiple times. When I […]
You can now vote on the 2016 Motif Theater Awards. Thank you for participating and supporting our theater community. More details on the awards show itself will come to this space soon. For now, please vote and pass this link on to your friends! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SWF29KL NOMINEES: OVERALL Improv / Audience Participation Bring Your Own Improv, […]
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 Academy Players of RI artistic director Rita Maron. Kevin Broccoli: At a time when so many theaters are trying to entice […]
Manic Pixie Dream Girl. In popular culture, the young female character who cures the despondent male protagonist of his sadness through her sheer quirkiness. Zooey Deschanel in 500 Days of Summer, Natalie Portman in Garden State, the list goes on. Manic Pixies are kind of a problematic trope that feeds into the Nice […]
The latest production of West Side Story at Theatre by the Sea features some terrific singing and dancing, as well as a wonderful score by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. This is a good-looking show, featuring terrific costumes and sets. Unfortunately it feels too by the numbers, as if the creative team were merely […]
Plays that tackle political commentary face the challenge of staying relevant in a constantly shifting world. The world of 1992, when AR Gurney’s The Fourth Wall first appeared on stage, is very different from the one in which we live today. Thus, when Roger Williams University decided to put on the play to kick off […]
Bill Hanney’s Theater by the Sea continues its summer 2016 season this week with their second offering, West Side Story, the classic American musical adaptation of Romeo and Juliet set amidst the backdrop of interracial gang warfare and urban strife. Those only familiar with the multi-award winning film are often surprised at the subtle differences […]
Living in the big city, like Providence, can be fun. But sometimes, it’s good to get away from the city, especially in the summer. The Theatre Company of Rhode Island, at the Purple Cat Winery in Chepachet, presents the play Angel Street (Gaslight), through June 26. It’s the story of a husband versus his […]
Free Man of Color, from playwright Charles Smith, skillfully and intelligently explores the issue of oppression. It is one of Mixed Magic Theatre’s strongest plays in recent memory. John Newton Templeton is a former slave who is studying at a university in Ohio in 1828. The university is overseen by Reverend Robert Wilson, who […]
There are musicals that can define you in a way; they speak to you at a time in your life. Twenty years ago, people my age saw that in RENT. We were young, we were trying to figure out who we were and pay our bills. And 20 years later, although we don’t have Jonathan Larson voicing […]