Phyllis Kay News

Arena Stage's JQA celebrated opening night on March 15, 2019. Check out photos from the evening below!

JQA is running through April 14, 2019 at Arena Stage.

'JQA' is an ambitious, delightful work that not only makes for an enjoyable theater experience, but also leaves its audiences ruminating on the deeper philosophies it explores. The strong cast and clever production designs are worth the trip alone, but the overall result is something that will linger in minds long after the lights have lifted, much like any presidential legacy.

BroadwayWorld has a first look at Aaron Posner's JQA, recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award. The first of Posner's plays that is not adapted from an existing work, JQA shines a spotlight with humor and care on an ineffectual presidency, the idea of government and how a society lives in relationship to it, and the American experiment as it continues to evolve. Directed by Posner as well, JQA runs March 1 through April 14, 2019 in the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle.

The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre (The Gamm) will hold its annual fundraiser on Monday, April 1 at 6 p.m. at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet, 60 Rhodes Place, Cranston, RI. GAMM GALA 34 will honor Steve Durkee with The David Wax Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Arts in recognition of his remarkable contributions to the arts in Rhode Island. This special evening also celebrates The Gamm's first season in its new Warwick home.  

Lamented as an ineffectual president, and later celebrated by then-Senator John F. Kennedy as a legislative statesman in his landmark book Profiles in Courage, Adams' legacy will get a long overdue reexamination thanks to Arena Stage and their world-premiere production of Aaron Posner's new play JQA.

Trinity Rep will continue its 2018-19 Season with the electrifying tale of Macbeth a Shakespearean thriller that bursts at breakneck speed with more suspense, murder, and madness than a blockbuster film. Directed by Curt Columbus, who was most recently at the helm of last spring's Ragtime, this contemporary telling of the famously-cursed play will include a live DJ and elements of magic.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces the full company for the world premiere of Aaron Posner's JQA, recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award. The first of Posner's plays that is not adapted from an existing work, JQA shines a spotlight with humor and care on an ineffectual presidency, the idea of government and how a society lives in relationship to it, and the American experiment as it continues to evolve. Directed by Posner as well, JQA runs March 1 through April 14, 2019 in the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces the full company for the world premiere of Aaron Posner's JQA, recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award. The first of Posner's plays that is not adapted from an existing work, JQA shines a spotlight with humor and care on an ineffectual presidency, the idea of government and how a society lives in relationship to it, and the American experiment as it continues to evolve. Directed by Posner as well, JQA runs March 1 through April 14, 2019 in the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle.

We are pleased to announce the winners for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Rhode Island Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Nominations were reader-submitted and voted on by you - the local theatergoers!

Trinity Rep will continue its 2018-19 Season with the electrifying tale of Macbeth a Shakespearean thriller that bursts at breakneck speed with more suspense, murder, and madness than a blockbuster film. Directed by Curt Columbus, who was most recently at the helm of last spring's Ragtime, this contemporary telling of the famously-cursed play will include a live DJ and elements of magic.

It's the last week to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Rhode Island Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.

There's just two weeks left to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Rhode Island Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.

There's just two weeks left to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Rhode Island Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.

There's just one month left to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Rhode Island Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.

There's just one month left to vote for the 2018 BroadwayWorld Rhode Island Awards, brought to you by BroadwayHD! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers are already setting records as they vote for their favorites. Regional productions, touring shows, and more are all included in the awards, honoring productions which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018. Our local editors set the categories, our readers submitted their nominees, and now you get to vote for your favorites! Voting will continue through December 31st, 2018.

Playwright George Brant seems to have a strange hold on the state of Rhode Island.  INTO THE BREECHES is the third play of his to be produced locally in four years, and this one was commissioned by Trinity Rep, and takes place in Providence.  While it's always fun to hear places you know like Woonsocket and Federal Hill name checked, this play is also so lovingly and obviously written for Trinity's company of actors, that it almost feels familiar.  The play itself is thought-provoking and heartwarming, and would likely be good on any stage, but these performances click so perfectly that the whole experience is like a breath of fresh air that will leave one smiling like a dope at the end.

Trinity Repertory Company will open the heartwarming new comedy Into the Breeches! this month. Set in 1942 Providence, the play follows the women of the fictional Oberon Playhouse, who endeavor to continue with their Shakespearean production even though the company's men (including their director) are fighting overseas in World War II. The women's dedication to each other and the theater is a delightful celebration of art and community.

Trinity Repertory Company will open the heartwarming new comedy Into the Breeches! this month. Set in 1942 Providence, the play follows the women of the fictional Oberon Playhouse, who endeavor to continue with their Shakespearean production even though the company's men (including their director) are fighting overseas in World War II. The women's dedication to each other and the theater is a delightful celebration of art and community.

DEATH OF A SALESMAN is a story so human and massive that it's almost impossible to summarize. Like all great drama, every word feels perfectly selected to heighten tension, despair and frustration, but it doesn't leave the audience demoralized or depressed, but rather full of questions and theories and appreciation for the fine craft of storytelling. Trinity Rep does a fantastic job with the source material, and somehow manages to make it seem current, even though it's clearly set in the 1940s. It's startling to be confronted with the fact that the problems of the 40s are still things we are grappling with today, even as we seem to be yearning for those simpler times. This is obviously something director Brian McEleney had in mind, as did Artistic Director Curt Columbus when he titled the fall season The American Dream, Then and Now , and paired DEATH OF A SALESMAN with Skeleton Crew, a current story of another type of displaced worker. This play is a masterpiece for a reason, and seeing a masterpiece performed in the intimate Dowling Theatre is a pure pleasure.