In most places, summer isn't usually the time of year when interesting and provocative contemporary theater gets produced.
Even in that great Mecca of New York City, only one or two shows ever open between the Tony Awards and September.
It just seems like the combination of heat and the temptation of hanging out at the beach for a few more hours makes it difficult to put on anything other than summer stock musicals and outdoor Shakespeare.
(Not that there's anything wrong with that. Put out your torches, Shakespeare lovers--but seriously, how many more productions of The Tempest am I going to have to sit through before I die? Hundreds? Probably hundreds.)
Lucky for Rhode Islanders, summer isn't what it used to be. Oh sure, if you're up for a fun night of musical theater you can check out Theatre by the Sea and if you want Shakespeare done by a master, go see TRIST's As You Like It directed by Bob Colonna right in downtown Providence.
If you're looking for something a little more intense, however, don't assume you'll have to wait until Fall rolls around.
Independent theaters in Rhode Island have started taking advantage of the fact that most of the theaters in the state go dark when the warmer months appear. This means local companies whose productions might tend to get lost when competing with bigger theaters can get more attention for their work.
The Contemporary Theater Company in South County has always put out terrific work in the summer, and now that they have their own space, you can bet they're summer offerings are only going to get better.
Providence's Wilbury Group is offering the Rhode Island premiere of the musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. For those of you who loved Perishable's Hedwig and the Angry Inch (and I'm not sure there was anybody who didn't), you're not going to want to miss one of the boldest musicals to appear on Broadway in the past few years.
Trinity Rep may be on break over the summer, but their downstairs space will be taken over by Mixed Magic's production of "When Mahalia Sings" in late June/early July.
The Burbage Theatre Company will be presenting "Animals" directed by Alex Gorgone in July at the Artist's Exchange (this is where the writer admits he's technically plugging a show he's written, but since the show has talking kittens, I think you'll forgive me. I promise not to plug Epic Theatre Company's "The Acting Company" being done at the Hope Artiste Village in August, which was also written by the writer of this post. Finally, I won't plug Prometheus, even though I think it looks awesome).
And don't think all of this is limited to the smaller theaters. 2nd Story Theatre in Warren presented Nuts, Speech & Debate, and Master Class last year--the third being a massive commercial and artistic hit. It just goes to show that doing shows year-round may just be worth the extra effort when it helps build momentum going into a new season.
The always innovative Strange Attractor doesn't have a new show planned for this summer, but it does plan on taking over a booth at Foo Fest, and if you know anything about this group, you know anything they do is worth checking out.
This list isn't meant to be all-inclusive. I haven't even touched upon the possibility of other groups putting something together in just a few weeks--one of the exciting things about independent groups is that projects seem to pop up without much notice, and that's great when you consider most of us know what the bigger theater's seasons are going to be six-to-eight months before they actually premiere.
So be a little bold this summer and venture outside your artistic comfort zone. It's worth skipping that last hour at the beach--and your skin will thank you for it.
Even in that great Mecca of New York City, only one or two shows ever open between the Tony Awards and September.
It just seems like the combination of heat and the temptation of hanging out at the beach for a few more hours makes it difficult to put on anything other than summer stock musicals and outdoor Shakespeare.
(Not that there's anything wrong with that. Put out your torches, Shakespeare lovers--but seriously, how many more productions of The Tempest am I going to have to sit through before I die? Hundreds? Probably hundreds.)
Lucky for Rhode Islanders, summer isn't what it used to be. Oh sure, if you're up for a fun night of musical theater you can check out Theatre by the Sea and if you want Shakespeare done by a master, go see TRIST's As You Like It directed by Bob Colonna right in downtown Providence.
If you're looking for something a little more intense, however, don't assume you'll have to wait until Fall rolls around.
Independent theaters in Rhode Island have started taking advantage of the fact that most of the theaters in the state go dark when the warmer months appear. This means local companies whose productions might tend to get lost when competing with bigger theaters can get more attention for their work.
The Contemporary Theater Company in South County has always put out terrific work in the summer, and now that they have their own space, you can bet they're summer offerings are only going to get better.
Providence's Wilbury Group is offering the Rhode Island premiere of the musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. For those of you who loved Perishable's Hedwig and the Angry Inch (and I'm not sure there was anybody who didn't), you're not going to want to miss one of the boldest musicals to appear on Broadway in the past few years.
Trinity Rep may be on break over the summer, but their downstairs space will be taken over by Mixed Magic's production of "When Mahalia Sings" in late June/early July.
The Burbage Theatre Company will be presenting "Animals" directed by Alex Gorgone in July at the Artist's Exchange (this is where the writer admits he's technically plugging a show he's written, but since the show has talking kittens, I think you'll forgive me. I promise not to plug Epic Theatre Company's "The Acting Company" being done at the Hope Artiste Village in August, which was also written by the writer of this post. Finally, I won't plug Prometheus, even though I think it looks awesome).
And don't think all of this is limited to the smaller theaters. 2nd Story Theatre in Warren presented Nuts, Speech & Debate, and Master Class last year--the third being a massive commercial and artistic hit. It just goes to show that doing shows year-round may just be worth the extra effort when it helps build momentum going into a new season.
The always innovative Strange Attractor doesn't have a new show planned for this summer, but it does plan on taking over a booth at Foo Fest, and if you know anything about this group, you know anything they do is worth checking out.
This list isn't meant to be all-inclusive. I haven't even touched upon the possibility of other groups putting something together in just a few weeks--one of the exciting things about independent groups is that projects seem to pop up without much notice, and that's great when you consider most of us know what the bigger theater's seasons are going to be six-to-eight months before they actually premiere.
So be a little bold this summer and venture outside your artistic comfort zone. It's worth skipping that last hour at the beach--and your skin will thank you for it.
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