OUT LOUD Theatre and La Voce: Theatre that Speaks are teaming up to present Shakespeare's Hamlet and Sarah Kane's CRAVE for the "2 Women. 2 Weekends. 2 Shows." project. Kira Hawkridge, Artistic Director of OUT LOUD Theatre, talked with BroadwayWorld Rhode Island about the family ties between the two troupes, OUT LOUD's upcoming residency at Artists' Exchange, and the perks of working with a nomadic group of performers.
Rhode Island's ever-growing arts scene shows no signs of slowing down over the summer months. With ambitious theatrical productions planned from Providence to South County, and internationally-renowned musicians bringing sizzling concert performances to the Ocean State, summer 2014 is shaping up to be a most memorable season of stories and songs.
Epic Theatre Company's had a nice run this year, premiering newer works like "The Other Place," "Tribes," and "The Great God Pan," alongside well-received productions of older works like "The Normal Heart," and the currently running "Angels in America." It was a season marked by similar themes and characters, but also by "name value" playwrights and plays. Recently, I sat down with Epic's Artistic Director, Kevin Broccoli, to discuss what goes into the choosing of a season as he readies his choices for next year.
Artists' Exchange is proud to present their 9th annual Artists' Exchange One Act Play Festival. Wave I of the festival will take place July 25th - August 2nd, and Wave II will take place August 8th - August 16th. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 7pm. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at door. One act plays of all genres will be presented in 2 two week 'waves.' The festival will feature plays from local, regional, and national playwrights, including Kevin Broccoli, Brandon M. Crose, L.H. Grant, Brett Hursey, John Levine, Mark Harvey Levine, and David MacGregor. A refreshing collection that offers something for everyone will be presented! Theatre 82 is located at 82 Rolfe Square in Cranston. For more information, visit www.artists-exchange.org or call 401.490.9475.
David Rabe's Hurlyburly, currently presented by Epic Theatre Company at Theatre 82 in Cranston, explores some well-known territory. It's Los Angeles in the 1980s. We're in the apartment of a couple of wanna-be Hollywood players. Vulgar, crude, rough-around-the edges guys who are trying to make it big, or at least make it, in Hollywood. They don't seem to have much real ambition though, or much actual talent, intelligence or qualifications when it comes to achieving their dreams, such as they are. All they actually do is sit around all day and night, drinking, doing drugs and having sex. These are not the bright and shiny celebrity filmmakers of Hollywood. They are the underbelly of the city, and Rabe peels back the surface and exposes all of their nastiness, not to mention their loneliness, paranoia, insecurity, greed and misery.
At one end of the theatrical spectrum are the big fantasies and storybook epics full of spectacle and wonder. aT the other, the small, intimate, realistic slice-of-life kind of plays. The latter are the plays that take us deep into the world of people just like us, real, breathing human beings with lives very similar to our own. It is this kind of play that Epic Theatre is bringing to the black box at Artists Exchange with their latest production, Amy Herzog's The Great God Pan.
The 24-Hour Play Festival is an annual tradition at South Kingstown's Contemporary Theatre Company, where for 9 years, 6 plays are written, cast, staged, teched, and put in front of a live audience in a 24 hour span. I tagged along with one of the productions during this year's festival on January 11th, 2014, to see how it's done.
"Family is conflict and it's something that we all relate to," according to Bill Cosby, who has made a very long career out of finding the humor in family conflicts. His television shows and standup routines probably never had anything quite like the family conflicts found in Nicky Silver's play The Lyons, now playing at 2nd Story Theatre in Warren. Even though the drama and conflict is ratcheted pretty high in this production, there are still many moments every audience member can and will relate to, whether they want to admit it or not.
Votes are cast; polls are closed; and results have been tabulated! This was our biggest year yet! After a record number of voters in more than 50 regions worldwide, BroadwayWorld is very excited to announce the 2013 Rhode Island winners! Thanks to all who voted, and huge congratulations to all the winners!
There's a ton of dysfunctional family dramadies in contemporary theatre right now, and even on local stages competing against each other - but nothing is like Epic Theatre Company's latest production, "Tribes."
Voting is now underway for Rhode Island! We have a record number of votes in already, but if you haven't voted yet, click here to vote! If you have voted already, tell your friends.
Voting is now underway for Rhode Island! We have a record number of votes in already, but if you haven't voted yet, click here to vote! If you have voted already, tell your friends.
Voting is now underway for Rhode Island! We have a record number of votes in already, but if you haven't voted yet, click here to vote! If you have voted already, tell your friends.
Voting is now underway for Rhode Island! We have a record number of votes in already, but if you haven't voted yet, click here to vote! If you have voted already, tell your friends.
Voting is now underway for Rhode Island! We have a record number of votes in already, but if you haven't voted yet, click here to vote! If you have voted already, tell your friends.
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.
