Julia Bartoletti

The Contemporary Theater Company brings back their longest running tradition, The 24-Hour Play Festival, for its 13th year on January 13. A full-length play is written, rehearsed, and performed in a single day with over 50 artists working on it.

Ocean State Theatre Company (OSTC), currently celebrating its fifth season in its comfortable stadium-style theatre in Warwick, presents Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee's Tony Award-winning play, Inherit the Wind, which will run at Ocean State Theatre from March 29 - April 16.

Ocean State Theatre Company (OSTC), currently celebrating its fifth season in its comfortable stadium-style theatre in Warwick, presents Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee's Tony Award-winning play, Inherit the Wind, which will run at Ocean State Theatre from March 29 - April 16.

Ocean State Theatre Company (OSTC), currently celebrating its fifth season in its comfortable stadium-style theatre in Warwick, is proud to announce casting for its production of Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee, which will run at Ocean State Theatre from March 29 - April 16.

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.

The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre (The Gamm) closes Season 31 with THE WINTER'S TALE, William Shakespeare's bittersweet story about jealousy, revenge and loss...and the redeeming power of love. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

One might argue that Titus is the perfect kind of play for a bold young company like Burbage Theatre Company. Willing and able to take risks, to go places other theater companies might not be so interested in going. And while there are some high points for Burbage and their production, it seems that they've fallen into the trap of focusing too much on one thing, to the detriment of other important aspects of Shakespeare's work. Primarily, they seem to have spent most of the time perfecting all of that carnage, all the blood and gore, while not spending enough time on perfecting the actual text, the words and language that make up the work and create its true life. As a friend and Shakespearean scholar noted to me, “That's always the danger with Titus, I'm afraid,” and her fears would have been realized in this production.

After their sold-out run of 'Happy Birthday, Wanda June', Burbage Theatre Company presents the Rhode Island Theatrical Premiere of TITUS ANDRONICUS, the first tragedy written by William Shakespeare, directed by Jeff Church, which is the second and final play in the Burbage Theatre Company's winter series, This Winter's War. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the company onstage below!

After their sold-out run of 'Happy Birthday, Wanda June', Burbage Theatre Company presents the Rhode Island Theatrical Premiere of 'Titus Andronicus' the first tragedy written by William Shakespeare, directed by Jeff Church, which opens previews tonight, February 18, as the second and final play in the Burbage Theatre Company'swinter series, This Winter's War. 

After their sold-out run of 'Happy Birthday, Wanda June', Burbage Theatre Company presents the Rhode Island Theatrical Premiere of 'Titus Andronicus' the first tragedy written by William Shakespeare, directed by Jeff Church, which opens previews February 18 as the second and final play in the Burbage Theatre Company'swinter series, This Winter's War. 

Rhode Island's theater community had much to celebrate in 2015.  Outstanding productions graced stages from the East Bay to South County, up-and-coming theatrical companies left their mark on the arts scene, and excellent concerts and dance events made for some of the best performances of the year.

The struggle to find something real, something true or something meaningful, in life is certainly something everyone can relate to. All of us, or most of us, at least, spend some or maybe even all of our lives searching for just that. True love. Meaningful work. Artistic expression that has a real impact. Our true selves. Searching for these things is at the heart of our lives and our life's work. And it's at the heart of the excellent musical Passing Strange, now receiving it's Rhode Island premiere at The Wilbury Group.

DRY LAND is a play that is both shocking and probably resonant with more people that you would necessarily think.  Themes of life, death, friendship and ambition are woven together to create a snapshot of life that feels incredibly real and intimate.  It's a play intended to challenge the audience and make them feel uncomfortable, especially considering the young ages of the main characters and the writer Ruby Rae Speigel.

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.

Some great musicals are great because they take us to another time, another place, perhaps another world entirely, one unrecognizable and filled with magic and fantasy. Others are great because they offer us a realistic and recognizable image of our own lives, a mirror in which we see our struggles, hopes, joys, failures and successes. The really great ones do so while offering an audience a captivating story, deeply developed and universally human characters, stunning music and unforgettable songs with amazing lyrics. One such musical is Next To Normal, now playing as the final show in The Wilbury Group's current season.

There are some plays that are easily categorized. They fit a very specific label, nice and neat and tidy. Hamlet is a tragedy. Noises Off is a comedy. There's little room for doubt or debate. On the other hand, some plays defy definition. They challenge you to put them into a category or give them a label. When that happens, you can sometimes get a muddled, confused mess that never really works. Or, as in the case of The House of Blue Leaves, currently playing at the Gamm Theatre, you get an exciting and entertaining piece of theater that surprises in part because of just how well it works.

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.

Stories of religious coflict and controversy have been around as long as...well...religion. Today, we are indundated with stories about the way religion continues to change, shape, impact and effect us and our world. Religious fanaticism, especially, has come to the forefront in recent years and now dominates the news we read and hear. Religious themes are also presented in artistic and creative works, including movies, books, tv shows and plays, including This Beautiful City, the first show of the season at The Wilbury Group. And while the play's life started with a interesting concept, the final product is mostly a rehash of religious stories we have heard many times before, told in more compelling and relatable ways.