Arts

Mary beth Meehan documents a city’s evolution

A changing community
In 2004, Providence photographer Mary Beth Meehan returned to her hometown of Brockton, Massachusetts, seeking to better understand the major racial and economic shifts it had seen over the past generation.

By: GREG COOK | November 28, 2012

2nd Story’s affecting Lost In Yonkers

Not-so-simple Simon
Write about what you know is one of the first admonitions given to rookie writers, and few have heeded it better than Neil Simon.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | November 27, 2012

Photos by Daby and Shechtman; plus, Bonetto and Morrill

Varied visions
William K. Daby, who has been photographing for some five decades, calls his new images at AS220's Main Gallery (115 Empire Street, Providence, through November 24) "photo paintings."

By: GREG COOK | November 19, 2012

Epic’s unsettling Mr. Marmalade

An act of imagination
Is Mr. Marmalade dark but life-affirming, or life-affirming but dark?

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | November 19, 2012

The Gamm’s illuminating Red

A painter’s passion
Whether or not the actual Mark Rothko was as irascible and violent-tempered as playwright John Logan depicts him in Red , the 1950s American art scene did feel his impact. So will those attending the powerful production at the Gamm Theatre, through December 16.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | November 19, 2012

Philip Jameson captures the cosmos

Monumental imagery
Philip Jameson, an 82-year-old retired radiologist in Providence, is one of the great living practitioners of one of the great traditions of American art — Ansel Adams's monumental, romantic style of landscape photography.

By: GREG COOK | November 14, 2012

2nd Story’s An Inspector Calls

CSI: Bristol
The British drawing room mystery has always been an enjoyable staple of theater, however campy and quaint.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | November 13, 2012

TRIST’s malevolent Richard III

Evil wears the crown
They don't make villains like they used to. When it comes to malevolent malfeasance, Lex Luthor and Dr. No were unworthy to hold the cloak of Richard III as he rolled up his sleeves to dispatch another innocent.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | November 13, 2012

Providence becomes a new crossroads for the thriller

Thrilltown
There is a scene in Jon Land's forthcoming thriller novel Strong Rain Falling — set for release next summer — where Caitlin Strong finally arrives in her author's hometown: Providence, Rhode Island.

By: PHILIP EIL | November 07, 2012

Interview: Junot Diaz on manhood, monsters, and Cancer Planet

Q&A
Junot Diaz shows up late for our interview, his Red Sox cap askew and one shoelace untied.

By: DAVID SCHARFENBERG | November 07, 2012

An uplifting Elf The Musical at PPAC

Spirit of the Season
It's about time elves get some credit for contributing to Christmas cheer.

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | November 07, 2012

Brown’s Kiss of the Spider Woman

Prison breaks
As novels ripe for musical adaptation go, Kiss of the Spider Woman is no Les Misérables .

By: BILL RODRIGUEZ | November 07, 2012

RISD’s ‘America In View: Landscape Photography 1865 to Now’

The Big Country
In 1975, the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York, opened a landmark exhibit, "New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape."

By: GREG COOK | November 12, 2012

Kristin Sollenberger at Craftland; and Flynn Grinnan

Arresting abstractions
"Assembled by hand, guided by eye, embracing error and accident, with hope for resolution" is the way Kristin Sollenberger of Wakefield describes the thinking behind "Precipitate," her smashing new show at Craftland (235 Westminster St, Providence, through November 10).

By: GREG COOK | October 31, 2012

Festival Ballet’s ‘Up Close, On Hope’

New moves
Festival Ballet Providence's intimate in-studio performances, Up Close on Hope, have always offered full and varied programs of short works by local and guest choreographers, many of them new to Rhode Island audiences (and/or their work is new).

By: JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | October 24, 2012