This past weekend, April 8 – 10, Christopher Johnson debuted his workshop performance of Invoice For Emotional Labor. The streamed, recorded performance was presented by the Wilbury Theatre Group, in collaboration with the CCRI Players and Community College of Rhode Island. Having witnessed readings of pieces of this work-in-progress over the past two years in […]
“I think we just need to focus on getting the message out that we’re back. We’re back and it’s safe. I think that’s a big enough task in and of itself.” This was a statement made toward the end of what truly felt like an endless Zoom meeting at the end of a very long […]
“If I hadn’t believed in you I wouldn’t have loved you at all” One of the great ironies that’ll be written about when people start assessing what the performing arts was like during the pandemic is that most of us only started figuring out how to do this whole digital theater thing right as the […]
“Do you think theater will survive?” Believe it or not, I started getting asked this question long before the pandemic struck. I would be asked to come in and do a Q&A at a college or attend a talkback for a play I’d written, and more often than not, somebody would ask some version of […]
Governor Dan McKee released his $11.2 billion budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year today in a budget briefing with the press. He inherits a big task from predecessor Gina Raimondo — balancing a deficit of $336 million dollars with some new budget priorities. Federal dollars will provide a big boost to state and local […]
Providence’s Head Trick Theatre is all about live performance and sharing space with an audience; however, COVID forced them to shift. Their latest production is a web series, Dangerous Liaisons, adapted and directed by Head Trick founder Rebecca Maxfield from the novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. “I think it works as an episodic structure. […]
Every writer has a flaw specific to whatever it is that prevents them from writing. For me, it’s productivity. I spent years demanding that I write a lot, every day, that I finish entire plays in a week, and if I wasn’t able to work at that speed, I’d become despondent and not write anything […]
On President’s Day, I did a live digital reading of a play I’d written called Mayor Pete. It’s a one-man show about Pete Buttigieg, small-town mayor, former Presidential candidate, and current Secretary of Transportation, who recently made history as America’s first openly gay cabinet member. Because I’ve been a little wary of doing any long-form […]
There are certain plays I reread every year, because in some ways, it’s the best way to remind yourself how to write. David Hare has, sadly, become a rarely produced playwright. It’s partly because he’s not scared of being topical, leaning into the moment and creating something that’s so specific it feels out of place […]
The Wilbury Theatre Group has teamed up with The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities’ Culture is Key Initiative, and will soon be presenting the fruits of their labor with Capture the Block: Stories from Ward 15. Culture is Key is an initiative to understand, test and evaluate the role of cultural participation on our state’s civic […]