Ed Shea News

CATHOLIC SCHOOL GIRLS by Casey Kurtti, the current offering at 2nd Story Theatre in Warren, follows MASS APPEAL and continues the theater's exploration of the Catholic Church in the second half of the late, lamented Twentieth Century. While MASS APPEAL concentrated on the masculine side of the Church (priests and would-be priests), CATHOLIC SCHOOL GIRLS focuses on the distaff side by following the school lives of four grammar school girls and the nuns who teach them at St. George's School in Yonkers. Four actresses play the girls and each takes a turn playing a different nun. Unlike a show like NUNSENSE, which is played for laughs, Kurtti's play explores both the lighter and darker sides of the girls experience; sometimes it's funny, and sometimes it hurts. You don't have to be Catholic, but it helps.

Guests are invited to dress up and party down at 2nd Story Theatre on Sunday, October 18, 2015.  The event will raise funds to support 2nd Story's programming and facilities.  The Guest of Honor is Resident Costume Designer Ron Cesario, who has designed the "play clothes" for more than eighty 2nd Story productions since 2002.

What would you do if you had a fortune and a mansion full of beautiful things? Barbra Streisand built a mall of make-believe shops in her basement to hold her memorabilia. This whimsical reality led playwright Jonathan Tolins to write the charming play Buyer and Cellar, playing at the Contemporary Theater Company tonight, September 11, through September 20.

What would you do if you had a fortune and a mansion full of beautiful things? Barbra Streisand built a mall of make-believe shops in her basement to hold her memorabilia. This whimsical reality led playwright Jonathan Tolins to write the charming play Buyer and Cellar, playing at the Contemporary Theater Company September 11 - 20.

According to Artistic Director Ed Shea, the two most frequently produced playwrights at 2nd Story Theatre are Moliere and Charles Busch: apparently these people like to laugh. The current offering from Busch is the outrageous DIE, MOMMIE, DIE, which is running in rep with I HATE HAMLET thru August 28. Charles Busch is shameless enough to write plays in which he can play the leading lady. He does not hold back-this is campy, frankly sexual, insightful, absurd and hilarious.

2nd Story Theater is currently offering an excellent production of VENUS IN FUR by David Ives in its intimate, seventy seat Downstage. Let's not bury the lead: the play itself, the cast, the set, the lighting, the costumes and the props are all terrific, but what really makes this work is an outstanding performance by Lara Hakeem. This is the second time I have seen Ms Hakeem perform at 2nd Story (my loss-she's been there since the theater opened in 2001), and ass good as she was in AND MISS REARDON DRINKS A LITTLE, she is even better here. Hakeem is at once hilarious and sexy as her character, Vanda-an auditioning actress, slowly but surely turns the table on her putative writer/director, Thomas, played by Richard Derry. He is miserable to her at first, as she seems all wrong for the part, but she understands: 'You're a writer and director; it's your job to torture actors.' Once she comes in from the rain in a trench coat, she spends the evening in tight leather undergarments, and Derry's Thomas crumples before the charms of Hakeem's Vanda. A newcomer to 2nd Story, Derry is also very good, particularly showing his chops in the brief time he and Hakeem switch roles and he plays Vanda.

This week, we go around our Broadway World to feature stories in Rhode Island, Milwaukee, Italy, and more. Check out our top 10 stories around our Broadway World below, which include BIG FISH at First Stage in Milwaukee, KISS ME KATE in Memphis, and THE WHO'S TOMMY in LA, just to name a few.

ENTERTAING MR. SLOAN by Joe Orton, the latest entry in the grim comedy sweepstakes currently going on at 2nd Story Theater in Warren, is a funny plays made with gruesome ingredients. When the audience takes its seat, it is greeted by Trevor Elliot's set--a simple, orderly middle class living room, which suggests nothing of the chaos soon to take place. Like the characters Orton created in 1964, the set is not what it first appears to be: what the audience cannot see is that the orderly living room is in a house at the edge of a dump.

In King Lear, Shakespeare wrote, 'The wheel is come full circle.' The Bard's famous line holds true at 2nd Story where Artistic Director Ed Shea has returned the UpStage theater to its original in-the-round configuration. Shea, well known for shaking things up mid-season, said this about his decision to go back to 2nd Story's in-the-round roots: 'I'd forgotten how intimate, immediate and profoundly simple theatre can be.'

In King Lear, Shakespeare wrote, "The wheel is come full circle." The Bard's famous line holds true at 2nd Story where Artistic Director Ed Shea has returned the UpStage theater to its original in-the-round configuration. Shea, well known for shaking things up mid-season, said this about his decision to go back to 2nd Story's in-the-round roots: "I'd forgotten how intimate, immediate and profoundly simple theatre can be."

It may be something rare when a theater company is able to utilize its two performances spaces at the same time to feature two plays which are extremely similar yet completely different in important ways. Two plays that deal with similar issues and in a sense tell the same story, or kind of story, but execute that story with vastly differing results. Such is the case at 2nd Story Theatre in Warren, where the current production in the UpStage space, Seminar, bares a striking resemblance to the just-closed production that playe din the DownStage space, Collected Stories. While Collected Stories was a finely crafted study of two nuanced and textured characters, Seminar is the exact opposite. This play, written by Theresa Rebeck, doesnt even begin to scratch beneath any surfaces as it deals with four writers who are participating in a writing seminar with a well-known, past-his-prime writer of fiction. As the seminar progresses over the course of a number of weeks, we begin to see conflicts arise as the egos, insecrities, passions, dreams and failures of the writers, young and old, tumble together and clash.

2014 was a powerhouse year for theater in the Ocean State. BroadwayWorld Rhode Island is pleased to feature some of the exceptional performers and artists who made this year a most memorable one on local stages.

We've all heard 'You can't go home again.' Or how about 'Home is where the heart is'? At this time of year, it's 'Home for the Holidays.' The idea of home, what and where it is, is a powerful theme throughout all types of artistic expression, from paintings to books to stage plays. It's a universal theme that anyone can understand and relate to. And it's at the center of 2nd Story Theatre's holiday season production of Horton Foote's The Trip to Bountiful.

Performances are October 9 - November 2, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm, and Sundays at 2:30pm. Tickets are $30. Tickets for ages 21 and under are $21.

Cats may have nine lives, but 2nd Story's top dog, Sylvia, has two. AR Gurney's personable pooch is making a return visit to satisfy all the customers who were turned away during last spring's sold out run. The eight-performance rerun will be from September 4 - September 14. In early October, 2nd Story kicks off its GR8 Season -- eight great plays -- four UpStage and four Down.

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.

Ed Shea is Sigmund Freud in Freud's Last Session by Mark St. Germain, DownStage at 2nd Story Theatre for eight performances from today, July 24 - August 3, 2014.

Ed Shea is Sigmund Freud in Freud's Last Session by Mark St. Germain, DownStage at 2nd Story Theatre for eight performances from July 24 - August 3, 2014.

The two shows currently playing at 2nd Story Theater in Warren, RI were not originally scheduled as part of this year's season. They are both replacement shows, chosen by Artistic Director Ed Shea, who is quoted as saying that he wanted audiences to "have fun" and leave the theater "feeling joyful." Though I haven't seen the show playing in the DownStage space, Shea has certainly achieved that goal with the UpStage production, Becky's New Car, a play that, regardless of some faults, provides an evening of undeniable entertainment.