Providence College

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A knee-slapping Lend Me a Tenor at PC

Hilarious high notes
As hilarious as the race for the Republican presidential nomination is, even that is no competition for Ken Ludwig's Lend Me a Tenor.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | February 01, 2012

You gotta fight for your right

. . . to evaluate the quality of various college parties (and assign a grade accordingly)
There are a lot of colleges in Boston, and they all have a lot of parties. I spent the semester trying to chronicle them for the purpose of science.
By JOE DIFAZIO | January 26, 2012

Shows worth seeing in the new year

Eyes wide open
From centuries-old Taoist visions to the ways technology can channel emotions, local exhibits this winter prompt comparisons between then and now.
By GREG COOK | December 28, 2011

Providence College’s Cripple of Inishmaan

Urge for going
Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan , the last of his Aran Islands trilogy, is being served very well by the actors at Providence College Theatre (through November 6). You could say without heated opposition that they are doing a better job than the playwright himself did.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | November 02, 2011

Review: The Abbey

The best burger in Providence, brick by brick
The Abbey may resemble just another corner grub pub, but I'm here to declare that this Elmhurst mainstay (near the Providence College campus) is home to the best cheeseburger in Providence.
By CHRIS CONTI | October 05, 2011

Burbage’s muddled Maids

Help wanted
There are employee/employer disputes and then there is Jean Genet's The Maids , which makes the West Virginia railroad riots of 1877 look like an arms-crossed kid pouting over spinach on a plate.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | August 16, 2011

Review: The enduring pleasures of Gypsy

Gotta sing! Gotta dance!
There are stage mothers and then there is Rose in the musical Gypsy , who is to the rest of the lot what Godzilla is to geckos.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | April 06, 2011

Gina Gionfriddo on the art of playwriting

Character studies
Although playwright Gina Gionfriddo was raised in Washington, D.C., Rhode Island has also made its contributions, since she polished her writing skills at Brown University, where in the late 1990s she sought out eventual Pulitzer winner Paula Vogel and her MFA playwriting program, attracted by the kind of dark comedy Vogel was coming up with.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | January 18, 2011

Angel Taveras on design, technology — and his theme song

Urban Affairs
With the New Year rapidly approaching, Providence's mayor-elect Angel Taveras has been busy assembling a ginormous transition team and fending off a small army of job-seekers.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | December 01, 2010

Review: PC updates Ibsen's Hedda Gabler

Queen of mean
Bad girls these days may act out more flamboyantly than the anti-heroine namesake of Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler . But Hedda makes up in shrewdness what she lacks in spectacle.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | November 02, 2010

In Chafee we trust

But is trust enough in this volatile political season?
In a year that finds most top-tier politicians promising jobs, jobs, and more jobs, independent gubernatorial candidate Lincoln Chafee is betting his political future on a different message: trust me.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | October 14, 2010

Review: A. Cemal Ekin's 'Touching the History' at PC

See the light
In June 2009, A. Cemal Ekin, a marketing professor at Providence College, found himself in Istanbul, Turkey, atop scaffolding rising some 16 stories high inside the historic dome of Hagia Sophia.
By GREG COOK | October 12, 2010

R.I.P., Ben Mondor (1925-2010)

The beloved Mr. Mondor; Environmental blinders; Volume control; Insane Clown Posse
Flags at half-mast at Casa Diablo and black mourning mantillas over Phillipe and Jorge’s heads on learning of the death of Ben Mondor Sunday at his home in Warwick Neck at age 85.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | October 07, 2010

Fall Dance Preview: Things are moving around town

Kick up your heels!
This fall’s dance events include reprises at local companies.
By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | September 14, 2010

Fall Theater Preview: Musicals and more

Belting it out and acting up
If we've come to know anything about 2nd Story Theatre, it's that we shouldn't presume to know what plays to expect.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | September 14, 2010

How Rhode Island can eliminate homelessness

The concept is as simple as it is radical: give the homeless a place to live, with no strings attached
Making it a reality is a matter of political will.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | May 14, 2010

A media market splintered

Online
The fragmentation of the local media market, long predicted, is finally a reality.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | May 05, 2010

Friartown, redux

PC players foul out. Plus, helping Johnny Mac, a Supreme shift, and ‘Monbo Time’
Phillipe and Jorge have always had a problem with Providence College basketball’s advertising campaign, which refers to the area as “Friartown” in a delusional suggestion that the squad has support throughout the local community.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | April 14, 2010

A timeless tale

Feminism is at the fore in PC’s Little Women
Ever since it was published in 1868, Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women has been inspiring generation after generation of strong-minded girls to grow into independent women.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | April 08, 2010

Thanks for nothing!

In our first annual list of Rhode Island turkeys, the Phoenix fingers 10 people and institutions that made a bad year even worse
We'd like to be thankful, we really would. Change came to Washington this year and the Mad Men returned.
By PROVIDENCE PHOENIX STAFF | November 22, 2011

Governor Ghoul

Sinking to new lows
Phillipe and Jorge are coming late to this fight, as last week’s column was already filed when the announcement was made that Governor Donald Carcieri — Governor Ghoul to you — had vetoed a bill giving domestic partners the right to claim the bodies of and make funeral arrangements for the people with whom they shared their lives.
By PHILLIPE AND JORGE | November 18, 2009

Gang of four

New work at 5 Traverse and Providence College
The elegantly simple shapes of Providence artist Lisa Perez’s shallow wooden wall sculptures at 5 Traverse Gallery take on charming, wobbly, bubbly forms with uneven edges, as if they were worn away by rivers.
By GREG COOK | November 03, 2009

Are progressives winning on the Web?

Action Speaks!
Action Speaks!, the panel discussion series at Providence art space AS220, continues its fall run with a chat about the state of community organizing.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | October 07, 2009

Camelot: The Next Generation

Patrick Kennedy is a square peg in his family's historic round table
Senator Ted Kennedy's months-long battle with brain cancer inspired endless commentary about the demise of Camelot.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | October 01, 2009

Providence Fall Preview Listings 2009

Music, theater, art, festivals and more in the coming months
A page of listings for local music, theater, art, festivals and more this fall.
By PHOENIX STAFF | September 17, 2009

Must-see moves

Flying feet and acrobatic hijinks
Two of this fall's dance performances will tell Halloween-style stories — a reprise of Viktor Plotnikov's THE WIDOW'S BROOM , by Festival Ballet Providence, and a premiere of Miki Ohlsen's DRACULA , by Island Moving Co.
By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | September 16, 2009

Both new and old classics

Life on the boards
The Gamm certainly has come a long way in the quarter-century leading up to this its 25th anniversary season. The evolution of its name alone is quite a trip.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | September 16, 2009

United we stand

A 'vote' for George Nee. Plus, euphemisms, bad sports, and the bucket
With the local AFL-CIO elections coming up, Phillipe and Jorge would like to make a rare union endorsement by saying that nothing would please us more than to have George Nee, current secretary-treasurer of the organization, win his bid to take over departing Frank Montanaro's position as the organization's president.
By PHILLIPE & JORGE | August 26, 2009

Hail, Deer Tick!

The Providence rockers are poised for a breakthrough with Born On Flag Day
Heady days for Deer Tick.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | June 17, 2009

Is the American Dream a nightmare?

Action Speaks!
Action Speaks!, AS220's panel discussion series, continues with a topic near and dear to us here in little Rhody — failure.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | April 29, 2009