Tony Estrella News

The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre (The Gamm) announces that it will cancel all remaining performances of its 2019-2020 season. This includes the formerly suspended run of Stephen Sondheim's Assassins and the run of Amy Herzog's Mary Jane, which was to follow.

The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre (The Gamm) will move its annual fundraiser from Monday, March 30, to Monday, June 29, at 6 p.m. at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet, 60 Rhodes Place, Cranston, RI.

ASSASSINS, the 1990 Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman show featuring the stories of nine successful and would-be presidential assassins, may seem like an odd choice of subject for a musical, particularly as the first musical in the Gamm Theatre's 35 season history. However, with inventive staging and a top-notch cast guided by artistic director Tony Estrella, this selection pays off.

The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre (The Gamm) will hold its annual fundraiser on Monday, March 30, at 6 p.m. at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet, 60 Rhodes Place, Cranston, RI. GAMM GALA 35 will honor Peter J. Troy with The David Wax Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Arts in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the arts in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts.

The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre (The Gamm) stages Assassins, Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's revue-style musical examining the motives of notorious Americans who take aim at the president of the United States-and what they believe is their best shot at the American Dream.

Trinity Repertory Company is inviting the public to nominate outstanding local artists for the 2020 Rhode Island Pell Awards for Excellence in the Arts. The Pell Awards' criteria include distinction in the artist's chosen field, work that significantly advances the art form and contribution to the betterment of the community, and the world at large through artistic presence and community service. Awards will be presented at the theater's gala event on Monday, June 1, 2020.

The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre (The Gamm) opens the new year with the off-Broadway hit Admissions by playwright Joshua Harmon (Significant Other, Bad Jews). Winner of both the 2018 Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards for best play, Harmon's newest comedy-drama explores white privilege in education-a topic made even more relevant by the country's headline-making college admissions scandal. Bryn Boice, associate artistic director of Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, makes her Gamm directorial debut with Admissions. The production features Deb Martin (Maxine Faulk in The Night of the Iguana) and Jim O'Brien (Mr. Mundy in The Night Watch) as husband and wife prep school administrators pushing for racial diversity in the student body. Gamm newcomer Jacob Osborne plays their son, whose Ivy League ambitions expose deep cracks in his parents' progressive values.

Nowadays, it seems that everything old is constantly being rebooted, updated, adapted, reimagined, etc. etc., so on and so forth. Any time something is re-imagined or adapted into something else, such as the many new Broadway musicals based on Hollywood movies, it can be a risky proposition. In the case of The Gamm Theatre's live radio play version of the classic movie It's a Wonderful Life, the adaptation is pulled off perfectly, honoring and respecting the source material while doing it in a creative, imaginative and immensely entertaining way.

The board of directors of The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre (The Gamm) has announced the hiring of Amy Gravell as managing director, effective November 11. Gravell comes with more than 20 years of experience in Rhode Island's nonprofit sector, and a deep commitment to community building and the arts.

When it comes to United States history, it can be easy to gloss over the period between the early 1800s to the cusp of the Civil War. The generation who lived during this forgotten era, however, faced no less tumultuous times than we do in modern times. Aaron Posner's play, JQA, specifically looks at this time period through the eyes of John Quincy Adams, who, as the son of founding father John Adams, and later a statesman in his own right, was uniquely poised to survey the era's ups and downs. Through the use of fictionalized encounters with some of America's most dynamic figures, the political and personal issues raised in JQA are as relevant now as they've ever been.

The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre (The Gamm) celebrates the holiday season with It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. Adapted by Joe Landry from the screenplay by Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra and Jo Swerling, this family friendly play is set in a radio studio on a snowy Christmas Eve in 1946, with radio personalities retelling the redemptive story of George Bailey. Damon Kiely, chair of performance for The Theater School at Chicago's DePaul University, makes his Gamm directorial debut transposing the movie classic from screen to stage, as if it were a live radio broadcast. A cast of 7 actors play multiple characters, with radio jingles and an onstage Foley artist creating real-time sound effects.

The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre (The Gamm) presents the New England premiere of JQA by Aaron Posner. The Helen Hayes- and Barrymore Award-winning playwright is known for such successful adaptations as My Name is Asher Lev from the Chaim Potok novel and his Chekhov-inspired Stupid F**king Bird. Posner's first play not adapted from an existing work, JQA uses telling and frequently humorous incidents in the life of one-term President John Quincy Adams to shed new light on our own relationship to government, as well as the evolving American experiment.

The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre (The Gamm) opens its 35th season with the Rhode Island premiere of A Doll's House, Part 2 by Lucas Hnath (Hillary and Clinton, The Christians). Fred Sullivan, Jr., who directed Henrik Ibsen's classic A Doll's House at The Gamm in 2011, returns to the helm with Jeanine Kane (Hannah in The Night of the Iguana, Season 34) and Steve Kidd (Austin in True West, Season 34) reprising their roles as Nora and Torvald.

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC) is pleased to continue its Common Access Initiative as part of its 24th season of "Free Shakespeare on the Common." Cymbeline runs July 17 - August 4 on the Boston Common. CSC is committed to keeping theatre accessible - financially, geographically, and artistically - as well as inclusive for patrons of all abilities. CSC has offered at least one American Sign Language (ASL) performance nearly every season since its founding in 1996, and in recent years has had the opportunity to meaningfully expand its disability access programming and offerings.

The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre (The Gamm), under the leadership of Artistic Director Tony Estrella, today announced the addition of Aaron Posner's new play JQA in the second slot of the 2019-2020 lineup. Estrella will direct the New England premiere of JQA, in which a diverse cast of four actors share the role of one-term American President John Quincy Adams. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' An Octoroon, previously announced as the season's second play, will open The Gamm's 2020-2021 season instead. Joe Wilson, Jr., Coordinator of Activism through Performance and Resident Acting Company Member at Trinity Repertory Company, will direct Jacobs-Jenkins' Obie Award-winning play that explodes ideas about race and American identity. JQA runs from October 24-November 17 at The Gamm Theatre, 1245 Jefferson Blvd., Warwick, RI. Season subscriptions for Season 35 are on sale now. Single tickets go on sale in early August. Information at gammtheatre.org.

W. Lynn McKinney, president of the board of directors of The Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre (The Gamm), announces that Oliver Dow is leaving the organization after five seasons as managing director to pursue other interests.

Sponsored by David and Ellen Galkin, on behalf of the Ira S. and Anna Galkin Charitable Trust, FUN(d) HOME The 2019 Wilbury Group Gala honored stage and film Actor Richard Donelly with the 5th Annual Kerry Callery Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Arts, and introduced the Arthur Richter Spirit of Giving Award to the man himself, Arthur Richter.

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Founding Artistic Director Steven Maler, is pleased to present its 24th season of "Free Shakespeare on the Common:" William Shakespeare's romantic fable Cymbeline directed by Fred Sullivan Jr.

In the forty years since its debut, Sam Shepard's 'True West' has been lauded for its stark portrayal of the duality of the American soul. The Gamm Theatre has mounted a visually compelling production with penetrating performances that slice to the heart of Shepard's darkly comedic vision.

Trinity Repertory Company announced today that three area residents will be honored at its 2019 Pell Awards Gala on Monday, June 3, 2019 in Providence. Storyteller Valerie Tutson will receive the Rhode Island Pell Award for Excellence in the Arts. Central Falls High School teacher Deloris Davis Grant will receive the Charles Sullivan Award for Distinguished Service in the Arts. The Pell Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Arts will go to Rosanne Somerson, President of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Additional honorees will be announced at a later date.