“Next to Normal”: A Rock Musical about Mental Illness that Delivers Humor and Honesty with Astonishing Force

by Judith Clinton

Trinity Repertory Company concludes its season with the Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning rock musical “Next to Normal,” featuring a book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt. Directed by former Associate Artistic Director Amanda Dehnert, “Next to Normal” is a deeply human [...]

Wilbury’s Girl from the North Country Uses the Music of Bob Dylan to Tell A Story of America at “It’s Most Bruised and Most Resilient”

by Judith Clinton

Wilbury Theatre Group closes its season with Girl from the North Country, written by celebrated Irish playwright Conor McPherson with music and lyrics by Bob Dylan. Girl from the North Country is not Bob Dylan’s story. Rather, it is a story made possible by his [...]

Primary Trust at Trinity Rep Finds the Extraordinary Inside an Ordinary Life

by Judith Clinton

Trinity Rep’s production of Eboni Booth’s Primary Trust, directed with gentle precision by resident company member Tatyana-Marie Carlo, offers a softly illuminated evening of theatre, one that locates grace in the smallest human gestures. Led by a deeply felt performance from Taavon Gamble as Kenneth, [...]

The Wilbury’s “The Comeuppance” Delivers Meaningful, Urgent Theatre

by Judith Clinton

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “The Comeuppance” is a darkly comic, post-pandemic reunion drama that cuts with the precision of a scalpel and the force of a gut punch. In The Wilbury Theatre Group’s riveting production, five former high school outsiders gather on a front porch in suburban [...]

When the Lights Go Out: Reverie Theatre’s Dystopian Thriller Hits Close to Home

by Judith Clinton

Reverie Theatre Company’s new production of A Girl in School Uniform (Walks Into A Bar) lands with a jolt of eerie timeliness. Written in 2016, Lulu Raczka’s dystopian thriller imagines a society plagued by unexplained blackouts—moments when the lights fail, systems collapse, and women vanish. [...]

The Roommate — A Sharp, Funny, and Unexpectedly Tender Study of Reinvention

by Judith Clinton

Trinity Rep’s latest production, The Roommate, offers a sharply observed portrait of two women whose unlikely connection becomes a catalyst for reinvention. The play’s humor and heart lands with precision, thanks to two exceptional performances and Curt Columbus’s deft direction in his first outing as [...]

When Silence Speaks Volumes: Small Mouth Sounds Finds Profound Meaning Without Words

by Judith Clinton

It has been said that there are three kinds of silence in the theatre: the silence of emptiness, the silence of anticipation, and the silence that settles over an audience when something deeply recognizable is unfolding onstage. Small Mouth Sounds, while employing all three, belongs [...]

A Christmas Carol and the Alchemy of Magic

by Judith Clinton

This year marks Trinity Rep’s 49th production of A Christmas Carol, and the creative team is conjuring something extraordinary. Co-directed by Richard and Sharon Jenkins, with original music by Richard Cumming and choreography by Sharon Jenkins, the 2025 staging runs November 6 through December 31 [...]

Finding His Voice: The Creative Journey of Hugo Pierre Martin

by Judith Clinton

Rhode Island is home to a wealth of talented actors, including French–American actor and bilingual voiceover artist Hugo Pierre Martin, newly transplanted by way of California. Before starting a new creative pursuit in Providence—namely, his audio series The Diaries of Netovivius the Vampire — he has [...]

Joe Wilson Jr. Takes Center Stage at ACT

by Judith Clinton

Joe Wilson’s vision for culture as community wealth blends history, activism, and infrastructure Providence has always lived on its cultural heartbeat. From the noise and ingenuity of the Industrial Era to the DIY brilliance of neighborhood festivals and avant-garde theater, this city thrives when its [...]