Christina Bevilacqua Will Be 'Conversationalist-in-Residence' at the State Theater

Trinity Repertory Company has announced Christina Bevilacqua will bring her expertise in curating conversation to the theater in her new position as Conversationalist-in-Residence. Bevilacqua joins the State Theater of Rhode Island in partnership following her eleven-year tenure at the Providence Athenaeum, where her Salon series elevated the library into one of the most beloved historic spaces in the state.

Bevilacqua will use her powerful skills as a cultural curator to guide the public conversation surrounding the Company's 53d season, Ghosts of the Past, Dreams of the Future. Bevilacqua will bring connections between these works to the forefront of the various public conversations Trinity Rep programs around its productions, and create deeper, more meaningful experiences.

Bevilacqua will work with Trinity's artistic and education staffs to create dynamic conversational opportunities throughout the season, and to enhance the theater's signature events including the Great Writers Series, the Lunch and Learn series, and the two post-show talkbacks as well as the Prologue series-a lively 30-minute conversation that precedes virtually every Trinity Rep performance. Bevilacqua's aim is to not only enhance each individual event but to create an ongoing dialogue between them.

Trinity Rep will also pioneer a new series, Ovation & Conversation with Christina Bevilacqua. Immediately following the final performance of each show, Bevilacqua will host a wrap party backstage with the cast and audiences to toast the closing night of a show and lead a dynamic conversation about the production, what the play means to us today, and more. Audiences who see the show throughout the run will be invited to return for these unique, post-performance events. The first Ovation & Conversation with Christina Bevilacqua event will be on February 12, 2017, following the closing night performance of The Mountaintop.

"Like conversation, theater asks us to open ourselves to risk and challenge, and to embrace others, whose self-questioning invites us to question our own lives," said Christina Bevilacqua. "As we enter this New Year, after a period of sobering division and intense national introspection, most of us, across the political and cultural spectrum, are longing for understanding and connection. I think local conversation is a great place to start, and Trinity Rep will be creating ways for you to engage with people next to you in the theater, across the city, and throughout our state."

"Christina Bevilacqua is a star in the cultural cosmos of Providence. She has an incredible ability to spot opportunities for rich conversation and to produce exciting and stimulating events about those conversations," remarked artistic director Curt Columbus. "Because her skills so perfectly blend with Trinity Rep's position as Rhode Island's 'public square,' a place for community dialogue, we couldn't be more thrilled to welcome Christina and to further develop our programming with her expertise."

Christina Bevilacqua is a cultural curator who uses the arts and humanities to cultivate conversation among diverse publics. From 2005 to 2016 she worked at the Providence Athenaeum, where in 2006 she created the Athenaeum Salon, a weekly event bringing Athenaeum members and the general public together for conversations on such topics as history, visual art, theater, politics, fashion, collecting, literature, food, music, architecture, science, education, and urban policy. In 2013 the RI Council for the Humanities awarded her the Tom Roberts Prize for Creative Achievement in the Humanities in recognition of the impact that the Salon has had on cultural life in the state. She was awarded a Community Fellowship for the year 2014-15 by Brown University's John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage, which she used for research on salon history and ways to deepen the Athenaeum's engagement with the cultural community. Prior to working at the Athenaeum she directed educational programming at Leadership Rhode Island, a community leadership organization, for three years. She earned a BA in Writing and Literature from Bard College and an MA in Social Policy from the University of Chicago. In addition to her work in publishing, social services, retail, and criminal justice in New York, Boston, Chicago, and Providence, she spent the years from 1992 to 2000 as a custom milliner.

The State Theater of Rhode Island, Trinity Repertory Company is now in its 53rd season. Since its founding in 1963, Trinity Repertory Company has been one of the most respected regional theaters in the country. Featuring the last permanent resident Acting Company in America, Trinity Rep presents a balance of world premiere, contemporary, and classic works for an estimated annual audience of approximately 110,000. Since 1963, the theater has produced 64 world premieres, mounted national and international tours, and, through its MFA program, trained hundreds of new actors and directors.

Tickets for the 2016-2017 season Ghosts of the Past, Dreams of the Future are on sale. The remaining season includes The Mountaintop by Katori Hall, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, the world premiere of Faithful Cheaters by Deborah Salem Smith and Fuente Ovejuna (The Sheep's Well) by Lope De Vega Carpio. For more information and to purchase tickets, call the box office at (401) 351-4242 or visit Trinity Rep's website at www.trinityrep.com.

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