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Theater

It’s all relative

PC’s madcap Charley’s Aunt
There is something especially fascinating about a play that you know knocked the socks (or sandals) off its original audiences.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | October 29, 2008

Center Stage Productions is branching out in South County
Things certainly changed dramatically at the Courthouse Center for the Arts in West Kingston when Russ Maitland signed on last December as executive director.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | October 29, 2008

An intriguing trio

Perishable’s Women’s Playwriting Festival
There were 196 plays submitted to Perishable Theatre, and three were chosen for the 14th International Women’s Playwriting Festival.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | October 22, 2008

A powerhouse play

URI’s compelling Small Tragedy
For a play titled Small Tragedy , playwright Craig Lucas certainly has packed in a bundle of large feelings.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | October 16, 2008

Into the woods

Theater of Thought’s Brilliant Traces
In its several productions, the Narragansett-based Theater of Thought has finessed the problem quite nicely — by making us flies on that wall, as the expression goes.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | October 16, 2008

A battling brood

2nd Story’s stormy Another Part of the Forest
Although Lillian Hellman wrote Another Part of the Forest as a prequel after The Little Foxes , it was by no means an afterthought.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | October 09, 2008

World party

Fresh fare at the FirstWorks Festival
In its fifth year, FirstWorks Festival 2008 has grown to be a culturally diverse showcase, distinctly international in flavor, with an array of theater and family entertainment.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | October 01, 2008

Race and rage

Brown’s Funnyhouse packs a punch
Race relations in America were in tumult when Adrienne Kennedy’s Funnyhouse of a Negro was first staged in 1962.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | October 02, 2008

Motel hell

PBRC’s creepy-crawly Bug
For all its ambition to wider purpose, it’s mainly a horror story.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | October 02, 2008

Fightin' words

Trinity Rep’s thoroughly modern Dreams of Antigone
The trouble with Greek tragedies is that they tend to be Greek to us.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | October 02, 2008

School daze

Legally Blonde charms at PPAC
Is this all a larky celebration of post-feminist feminism or just a lark?

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | September 25, 2008

Under her skin

Laurel Casey is back in town
Who is Laurel Casey? If you figure her out, let her know. She’d love to learn that too.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | September 17, 2008

New + old classics

Life on the boards
As if freshly presenting stage classics isn’t challenging enough, new adaptations are in the lineups this fall at two companies, Trinity Repertory Company and the Gamm.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | September 10, 2008

Living histories

The Gamm stages a remarkably timely Don Carlos
Political intrigue, parallels to today’s electoral brouhaha, and reminders of historical warnings, all presented in dignified but unpretentious blank verse cadences.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | September 10, 2008

To the Max

The Producers at Theatre by the Sea
The show’s success has to do with more than the Mel Brooks classic being a familiar crowd pleaser.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | August 13, 2008

High society

2nd Story’s hilarious Belle’s Stratagem
The current 2nd Story Theatre production — with slit-eyed coaching from the playwright — manages to make the message as familiar as yesterday.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | August 13, 2008

On edge

Fledgling Festival’s feisty fare
If a worldwide pandemic of sanity and accord suddenly swept across the continent, we’d not only have to deal without a follow-up to this year’s 4th Annual Fledgling Festival at Perishable Theatre.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | August 13, 2008

The islander

Mixed Magic’s Tempest
It’s to the credit of the cast of The Tempest that many of the actors are so engaging that I didn’t even notice the city noises until the momentary silence of a scene change.

By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | July 30, 2008

Fresh fare

Smart work from the Brown/Trinity Rep Playwrights Repertory Theatre
For the fourth consecutive summer, Brown/Trinity Playwrights Repertory Theatre has been showcasing new work by emerging playwrights.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | July 30, 2008

Power playing

Theater by the Sea’s Evita
Theatre by the Sea is staging a slick rendition of Evita that gets across much of the power of the personalities and social forces involved.

By BILL RODRIGUEZ | July 23, 2008