Jim Sullivan News

Rescheduled Date For Simon Phillips/Protocol IV at Jazz Cafe 2/1

Burbage Theatre Company continues their sixth season with the Rhode Island Premiere of 'Don't Be Evil' by Bennett Fisher, a new workshop production directed by Jeff Church. 

Burbage Theatre Company continues their sixth season with the Rhode Island Premiere of 'Don't Be Evil' by Bennett Fisher, a new workshop production directed by Jeff Church, which opens previews Friday January 27.

THE FLU SEASON is a darkly funny, incredibly touching and thoroughly strange production.  At its core, it's a simple story about love and relationships. The setting of a mental hospital, with additional commentary from two men known as Prologue and Epilogue, who are dueling over creating the story as it unfolds for the audience, complicates things and interjects unexpected twists and turns.  Burbage Theatre Company has never been afraid to take on the surreal and strange, and with The Flu Season, they have proven once again that odd little stories are in very good hands.  Under the expert direction of Wendy Overly, this simple premise becomes wholly immersive and heartbreaking.

Burbage Theatre Company continues their sixth season with the Rhode Island Premiere of 'The Flu Season' by Will Eno, directed by Wendy Overly, which opens previews Today November 4.

Burbage Theatre Company continues their sixth season with the Rhode Island Premiere of 'The Flu Season' by Will Eno, directed by Wendy Overly, which opens previews Friday November 4.

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!

Gingold Theatrical Group's Project Shaw, under the leadership of Artistic Director David Staller, continued its 11th Season with its 111th concert presentation with Shaw's comedy, THE MAN OF DESTINY, on Monday, February 15, at Symphony Space's Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre. BroadwayWorld has photos from the production below!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WANDA JUNE is the only full length play by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., based on his novel of the same name.  Like many Vonnegut works, it captures beautifully the absurdity of life, death and senseless violence all while making you laugh so hard you worry you'll hurt yourself.  Burbage Theatre Company has taken this under-utilized gem and shined it up perfectly.  Though the play takes place in 1970, it's shocking to note how well it holds up, especially when acted and directed so well.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WANDA JUNE the only play by the great American satirist Kurt Vonnegut Jr, directed by Wendy Overly, begins previews January 7 as the first play in the Burbage Theatre Company's winter series, This Winter's War. Happy Birthday, Wanda June runs through February 5 at Aurora Providence, 276 Westminster Street, Providence, RI. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast onstage below!

Your intrepid correspondent saw two plays this weekend, Andrew Case's THE RANT at the Gamm Theatre in Pawtucket and NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH by Alan Ayckbourn Upstage at 2nd Story Theatre in Warren. Each of these plays dealt a violent death at the hands of the police. THE RANT is a powerful, drama about the dark recesses of murder and unknowability, while NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH is a light-hearted romp through the dark recesses of middle-class paranoia. I enjoyed them both very much, but then I'm middle-class with dark recesses of my own.

The Columbia Festival of the Arts is pleased to announce its 2015 Fall Festival, featuring a diverse array of arts events centered around the Fall Festival's theme: British Invasion. The British Invasion Festival will be presented October 2nd through 4th, during which time twelve events will be offered in multiple venues throughout Columbia.

The Columbia Festival of the Arts is pleased to announce its 2015 Fall Festival, featuring a diverse array of arts events centered around the Fall Festival's theme: British Invasion. The British Invasion Festival will be presented October 2nd through 4th, during which time twelve events will be offered in multiple venues throughout Columbia.

Theatre Under The Stars' Humphreys School of Musical Theatre (HSMT) will present FREE performances of Hairspray at Miller Outdoor Theatre with a cast that is sure to be a big and bold hit! Winner of 8 Tony Awards including Best Musical, the family-friendly show will dance onto the stage in a memorable theatrical experience today, June 10, through June 12 at 11:00 a.m. and June 12 - 13 at 8:15 p.m.

Theatre Under The Stars' Humphreys School of Musical Theatre (HSMT) will present FREE performances of Hairspray at Miller Outdoor Theatre with a cast that is sure to be a big and bold hit!  Winner of 8 Tony Awards including Best Musical, the family-friendly show will dance onto the stage in a memorable theatrical experience June 10 - 12 at 11:00 a.m. and June 12 - 13 at 8:15 p.m. 

If there was an award for Rhode Island's current busiest man in show business, one of the nominees would absolutely have to be 2nd Story Theatre's Ed Shea. The company's Artistic Director is currently performing in the Downstage production of Freud's Last Session. Last night, in the Upstage space, he made an appearance and gave the curtain speech for Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, which he directed. During his visit upstairs, Shea spoke about summer stock theaters and how they once dotted the landscape in these parts. No longer as much of a presence as they once were, they featured a certain kind of theater experience, something lighter, more whimsical and fun than the weighty, thought-provoking works seen throughout the winter months. That sense of offering something entertaining and fun permeates his entire production of Christie's play, a perfect summertime treat of mystery and murder, tempered with the right amount of wit and whimsy.

Tickets to the first extension of AR Gurney's Sylvia were snapped up faster than a dog chasing a bone, so 2nd Story Theatre has added more performances to meet unprecedented demand. Best availability is for newly added performances May 24 through June 1.

To meet demand for tickets, 2nd Story has scheduled three additional performances. Newly added performances are: Sunday May 11 @ 7PM, Wednesday May 14 @ 7PM, Sunday May 18 @ 7PM. Tickets are $25. Tickets for Ages 21 & Under are $20.Sylvia runs DownStage at 2nd Story Theatre through May 18.

Gingold Theatrical Group's PROJECT SHAW, under the leadership of Founding Artistic Director David Staller, presented George Bernard Shaw's 1894 comedy, Arms and the Man, on Monday, January 27 at 7pm, at Symphony Space's Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre (2895 Broadway at 95th St). BroadwayWorld has photos from the show below!

There are those plays that, one way or another, rest primarily on the shoulders of a single actor. It's true that no play, unless it's a one-man or woman show, is completely about just one person, one character. On the other hand, there are plays where everything is so tightly connected to a single character that they are the show's life, breath and blood. A play like Hamlet, for example, Streetcar Named Desire or A Doll's House. You simply must have the right actor playing Hamlet, Nora and Stanley to make those plays become what they might be. Unfortunately, 2nd Story Theatre's current production of George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan just doesn't have what it needs at its center, in the all-important title role.