David Tessier

The Wilbury Theatre Group launches into 2018 with a bold new staging of Thornton Wilder's tragicomic masterpiece The Skin of Our Teeth directed by Wilbury Founder/Artistic Director Josh Short with music direction by Matt Requintina (Spring Awakening), January 18 through February 4 at their new home and performance space at 40 Sonoma Court, Olneyville.

MR. BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY takes place in the near future, and then further into the future, and then way into the future as the world as we knew it becomes increasingly distorted and warped seemingly via a century long game of telephone.  It's a play that analyzing will just leave a person more discombobulated, so it's probably best to just strap in any enjoy the ride.  Regardless of whether or not you understand it, you will come away thoroughly entertained by the phenomenal cast and skillful music direction of Wilbury favorite David Tessier.  The people Wilbury Theatre Group are masters of the strange and unexpected, and even if the audience can't completely grasp what's going on, the cast has everything handled, so that it's best to just sit in their thrall and trust that we're all going to make it out ok.

The Wilbury Theatre Group production of Harold Pinter's BETRAYAL, directed by Aubrey Snowden. Playing now thru February 12. Learn more at www.thewilburygroup.org/betrayal.html

The Wilbury Theatre Group proudly kicks off 2017 with an audience immersive production of Harold Pinter's greatest play, Betrayal, January 26-February 12.

The Wilbury Theatre Group proudly kicks off 2017 with an audience immersive production of Harold Pinter's greatest play, Betrayal, January 26-February 12.

2016 was a year for imagination and innovation on Rhode Island stages. Here's a look back on some of the productions that stole the spotlight in the Ocean State this season.

There is a current trend in Hollywood to combine movies in a way that creates a 'cinematic universe.' This allows studios to create a number of movies that are all connected and can be tied together, usually because of a shared world of characters, think Marvel superheroes or the famous Universal Studios movie monsters. In an ingenious sort of experiment, Wilbury Group is kicking off its season with a production that creates a kind of 'theatrical universe,' by linking together three plays that would otherwise be thought of us very different and entirely separate. With masterful execution, Wilbury manages to create a fascinating and frightening world in which we can really believe these three disparate works might coexists.

Wilbury Theatre Group closes out their 2015-2016 season with JERUSALEM by Jez Butterworth.  It's a skillfully directed production with a few standout performances, but unfortunately is bogged down by an overlong story that doesn't deliver much tension until after the two hour mark and suffers from some clumsy accent work.  It's an ambitious project for the Wilbury group to take on, and the sets and costumes are absolutely perfect for the story, unfortunately the source material is the main problem and its cliche' plot and incredibly slow pacing just never really deliver.

The Wilbury Theatre Group closes its 2015/16 season with the Rhode Island premiere of Jerusalem, Jez Butterworth's epic Tony and Olivier award-winning play, May 19-June 4, 2016.

The Wilbury Theatre Group proudly closes its 2015/16 season with the Rhode Island premiere of Jerusalem, Jez Butterworth's epic Tony and Olivier award-winning play, May 19-June 4, 2016.

The Wilbury Theatre Group's Founding Artistic Director Josh Short has announced the Group's 2016/17 season.

The Wilbury Theatre Group proudly opens it's 2015/16 season with the  New England premiere of Ruby Rae Speigel's Dry Land, September 17-October 3, 2015. A finalist for the 2015 Susan Smith Blackburn Award, Dry Land . Centered on young girls' experiences in the scary throes of adulthood, Spiegel's critically acclaimed play is about abortion, love, friendship, and the life of the modern American teenager. This New England premiere production is directed by Wilbury Artistic Director Josh Short and features original music by local singer-songwriter Emeline Easton.

For theater aritsts and theater lovers, few things compare to watching the genesis of a new piece of theater. The creation and development of a new work, from initial staged readings and workshops to final performance, is a thrilling process. Of course, there are many steps along the way and not all of them are successful. Not every aspect of the play found in the first version of the script will make it to the final version. Not every beloved moment or great-idea-at-the-time will end up making the grade when all is said and done. Still, it's a process that is vital to the present and future of theater. Vital because new blood and new life must be created and injected into the theatrical world and it's up to theater artists everywhere to make sure that happens. In our region, one of the companies doing just that is The Wilbury Group, currently presenting the second iteration of a new work, Roadhouse: The Musical.

It may sound strange but, at its best, theater is not unlike an ecosystem in the natural world. Every organism in nature interacts with every other organism. All the various parts of that system, living and nonliving, must work together so that the system as a whole can survive and thrive. Similarly, every part of a theatrical production must work well together. All the elements, acting, directing, sound, lights, costumes, etc. must be working in harmonious union. If not, it's just a gathering of disconnected ideas, concepts and gimmicks, making a collection of nice parts but not a cohesive whole. On the other hand, when done just right, all of the parts come together to create a perfectly executed singular vison. The Wilbury Group's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is exactly that type of show.

The Wilbury Theatre Group has announced a production of Tom Stoppard's tragi-comedic masterpiece Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. The celebrated playwright's work takes dark and hilarious look at art, life, and the world from the point of view of Hamlet's ill-fated school chums, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Directed by Wilbury Group Artistic Director Josh Short with music by Marc Kaplan, this reimagined production features Joshua Andrews and Patrick Saunders in the titular roles, with David Tessier as the Player.

Strange Attractor Theatre, Rhode Island's only physical theatre company, invites the community to a free work-in-progress showing of their sixth original work, Idle on March 1, 2014 at 8pm at the Mathewson St. Theatre in downtown Providence. Inspired by company member Jed Hancock-Brainerd's childhood collection of porcelain Dickens Village Christmas Houses and the ever-growing divide between the haves and the have-nots, Idle is an absurdist response to the American dream of working less and having more. The showing will be followed by an informal feedback session with complimentary wine and cheese.

Every holiday season, along with all the usual theatrical suspects, there are always a few unique and surprising choices that pop up on area stages. There's usually some kind of strange or twisted take on A Christmas Carol. There's often some kind of musical revue, or two, featuring favorite holiday tunes. Oftentimes, there's a comedy show, or four, usually sending up much of what happens during the season. This year, one such non-traditional offering can be found at The Wilbury Group, where they are presenting A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant.

The Wilbury Theatre Group announces the Rhode Island premiere of the Obie award-winning musical, A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant. Written by Kyle Jarrow based on a concept by Alex Timbers, and directed by David Tessier (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) with music by Kerry Callery (Body Awareness), this production of the cult-hit telling of the life L. Ron Hubbard and the founding of Scientology marks the tenth anniversary of the ground-breaking cult-hit's original New York premiere. A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant runs tonight, December 5-22 at The Wilbury Theatre Group, 393 Broad Street, Providence RI.

The Wilbury Theatre Group announces the Rhode Island premiere of the Obie award-winning musical, A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant. Written by Kyle Jarrow based on a concept by Alex Timbers, and directed by David Tessier (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) with music by Kerry Callery (Body Awareness), this production of the cult-hit telling of the life L. Ron Hubbard and the founding of Scientology marks the tenth anniversary of the ground-breaking cult-hit's original New York premiere. A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant runs December 5-22 at The Wilbury Theatre Group, 393 Broad Street, Providence RI.