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THE COMEUPPANCE: Surreal Impact Of National Tragedies On A Generation

From the boundary-pushing, Tony Award-winning playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins comes this electrifying comedy meditation on impermanence, nostalgia, and isolation. Directed by Don Mays, The Comeuppance starts innocently enough as five former classmates from a Catholic academy gather on the eve of their 20-year high school reunion. Fueled by cocktails and weed, they reminisce at a suburban porch pre-party […]

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CLYDE’S: It’s Sandwich Heaven! Welcome to Hell.

Burbage Theatre Co premieres Lynn Nottage’s two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Clyde’s, directed by Burbage’s founding artistic director, Jeff Church. A truck stop sandwich shop offers its formerly incarcerated kitchen staff a shot at redemption. Even as the shop’s callous owner tries to keep them down, the staff members learn to reclaim their lives, find purpose, […]

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News Analysis — Iran War Update: Where are we going, and do we know?

  [See prior update: motifri.com/iran-war2026] Donald Trump built his entire life and career on denial of reality, convinced he could counter every adversary with some combination of cajolery and charm or, if that failed, threatening and bullying. In his first presidential term, Trump hit the wall because a pandemic virus is not susceptible to such […]

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THEATER PREVIEW: The Outsiders – Warring teens tug at the heartstrings in touring musical coming soon to PPAC

The national tour of The Outsiders, coming soon to the Providence Performing Arts Center, will seem familiar. And not just because it’s the stage adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s seminal 1967 young adult novel – which was required middle school reading for most of us – and Francis Ford Coppola’s iconic 1983 film of the same […]

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THE WINTER’S TALE: An Enchanting Shakespearean Tragicomedy

BY ALISON O’DONNELL ON FEBRUARY 20, 2026 Trinity Rep tells us their staging of William Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale is a freewheeling blend of comedy and tragedy, a journey through jealousy, redemption, and second chances. In a fit of unfounded jealousy, King Leontes accuses his wife, Hermione, of infidelity, leading to heart-wrenching consequences. Sixteen years […]

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