Things to do in Providence

The Burn at Wilbury – OMG! Trial by Ordeal IRL!

Four public high school girls and an intelligent, caring teacher study and rehearse Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. This may seem nothing very unusual, but that play is a classic story of cliques forming within small groups, politicking for advantage. Its subject, the Salem witch trials of 1692-1693, were driven in large part by the testimony […]

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Brown Students Put a Satellite into Earth Orbit

“The flashing is what we use to get people excited about” the satellite, designed and built by Brown University undergraduate students, that was launched into earth orbit from the International Space Station (ISS) in July, said Jacob Leiken, one of the project directors with Brown Space Engineering (BSE). “Our primary mission is to make space […]

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Powerful How I Learned to Drive at Wilbury

Like many Rhode Islanders, I first saw Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive 20 years ago at Trinity Rep. How fitting it is, then, to celebrate this groundbreaking production with The Wilbury Theatre Group, a theater known for producing provocative and thought-provoking theater. Let’s begin with the set. Walking in, Monica Shinn’s set welcomes you […]

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Engaged Anthropology: Brown’s Haffenreffer Museum collection reflects social issues

As the sepia-tinged blanket of fall warms the landscape with hues of burnt orange, yellow and red, college campuses across New England are coming to life with all the bustle of a new semester. At Brown University, institutions such as the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology support classroom life by providing students with extensive resources and […]

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Tre Maison Dasan: Three Boys Grow Up with Parents in Prison

Rhode Island filmmaker Denali Tiller directed a documentary named after three boys: Tre, Maison, Dasan. At the start of the film they are 13, 11, and 6 years old, and each has a parent (two fathers and one mother) incarcerated in the state prison, the Adult Correctional Institution in Cranston. The film is scheduled to […]

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RIIFF 2018 Highlights

RIIFF programming director Shawn Quirk guided us through a selection of features and shorts. Opening night ceremonies on August 7 feature dedication of the 2018 festival to emerita professor Winifred Brownell “who was instrumental in creating the URI film program.” Short films are the “crème de la crème” of RIIFF, Quirk said, considering the Academy […]

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Good-Natured Political Satire: Charlie Hall and the Ocean State Follies

Charlie Hall started the Ocean State Follies in 1992. Over the next two decades, it became the renowned and definitive political comedy and satire act in Rhode Island. He retired the show after 20 years, taking a hiatus for five years, but recently revived it. The Follies have a regular monthly PVD combined dinner and […]

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