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Breaking news: timeless fun at 2nd Story
The Front Page 's timeless fun at 2nd Story

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | January 28, 2009

S tream of surrealism
If you're enjoying Elemental Theatre's wild and whimsical deca*go*go at Perishable Theatre (through March 1), you're not likely to be reminded of Elizabethan sonnets, but think about it.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | January 29, 2009

Review: Awake and Sing!

Out of time
Written at the beginning of the Depression, Clifford Odets's Awake and Sing! sounds from its title like a paean to American exuberance and chest-thumping optimism.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | January 21, 2009

Review: La Voce's Most Massive Woman Wins

Weighty matter
As issue theater goes, The Most Massive Woman Wins isn't strident, just relentless.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | January 21, 2009

Universal tales

Diane Macklin makes a difference at FUNDA
For the 11th consecutive year, the Rhode Island Black Storytellers (RIBS) are bringing stories and tellers from near and far for the eight-day FUNDA Fest (January 18-25).

By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | January 15, 2009

City life

Pawtucket Rising hails the Bucket
Pawtucket Rising hails the Bucket

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | January 14, 2009

To tell the truth

Sharing stories at Live Bait
Stories. We all have them.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | January 07, 2009

Making magic

Rediscovering the thrill of discovery
Ever since the Greeks learned to keep their masks on straight and not bump into the statuary, theaters and theatergoers have been learning more and more about how the magic works.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | December 23, 2008

Adam Bock is a good listener

Talking the talk
When Adam Bock first came to Providence in the late '80s, after a friend told him there was this great playwriting teacher at Brown, he was busting with unstoppable aspiration

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | December 19, 2008

Not-so-silent night

Miss Pixie's tongue-in-cheek Extravaganza!!!
Oh, what Miss Pixie wouldn't give to be loved. Pride? Dignity? Self-awareness? Check, check, check.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | December 16, 2008

Star search

Miss Pixie's long, strange trip
The winsome and irrepressible Miss Pixie was born at Perishable Theatre for 2002-03 post-show discussions, the whimsical suggestion of Marilyn Busch, who was the theater's publicist at the time.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | December 16, 2008

Behind closed doors

Trinity fires off The Receptionist
Ricky Gervais meets Dick Cheney in The Receptionist.

By CAROLYN CLAY | December 19, 2008

In the spirit

Trinity Rep's heartening Christmas Carol
Trinity Rep's heartening Christmas Carol

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | December 10, 2008

First-rate fare

The Brown/Trinity Rep Consortium
Providence used to be a more interesting theater town back before its off-Trinity mainstays, 2nd Story Theatre and the Gamm, moved up and over to Pawtucket and Warren, respectively.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | December 10, 2008

Triumph of the will

2nd Story's stirring Miracle Worker
It's easy enough— unavoidable, actually — to admire and be amazed by the accomplishments of Helen Keller, but it took the account by playwright William Gibson for the remarkable work of her teacher, Annie Sullivan, to be so widely appreciated.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | November 26, 2008

Wallowing

Lockerbie overdoes the melodrama
Playwright Deborah Brevoort looked at the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 bombing, shook her head, and reduced the tragedy to its effect on one family and one town in The Women of Lockerbie , being staged by Roger Williams University Theatre (through November 22).

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | November 19, 2008

Timeless treat

It's hard not to enjoy a rousing production of Oklahoma!, for more reasons than any musical needs in order to get audiences smiling and humming afterward. URI Theatre is pleasing those familiar with the classic and winning new fans with a production (through November 23) that just can't stop moving.
URI heads to Oklahoma!

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | November 19, 2008

A 'beautiful life'

Center Stage's Cabaret is in top form
In the context of today's new political dawn, Cabaret , the Kander and Ebb musical about 1930 Berlin, is like one of those silly horror movies that couples go to for an excuse to cling together and shriek. Isn't it great that the mayhem isn't happening to us is the unspoken message.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | November 12, 2008

Power play(1)

The Gamm's An Ideal Husband
At this time of renewed political idealism in the country, director Judith Swift has labeled the London setting of An Ideal Husband , at the Gamm through December 7, as "inspired by the 19th century, set in the 20th century, reflected in the 21st century."

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | November 12, 2008

Mixed Magic’s Moby Dick goes to DC

Whale tale
In 2006, Pitts-Wiley wrote Moby Dick: Then and Now , a theatrical version of Herman Melville’s book, which joined the story of Captain Ahab chasing a great white whale to an urban tale of teenagers chasing “that Great White Thing” — cocaine.

By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | November 05, 2008