Fall Guide

Curtains Up on Fall Theatre

What’s on Rhode Island’s most dramatic stages this season

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It’s that time of year again: lights are going up all over the state at local theatre companies. From a legendary hero gone rock and roll to laugh-a-minute British farces, here’s how you should be getting your culture this season.

This year, Trinity Repertory Company kicks off its season with something completely unexpected. Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage is a modern retelling of the epic heroic tale, but set to Tom Waits-inspired rock and roll. In this version, Beowulf still protects the great hall of Heorot from attacks by Grendel, Grendel’s mother and a fire-breathing dragon – but he does so with a panel of academics analyzing (and overanalyzing) his every move. Existential questions of heroism and purpose follow – set to music, of course. The show runs September 8-October 9, followed by Appropriate, opening October 6, which is a dramedy about the estranged members of the Lafayette family, who return home to their once-grand Arkansas estate after their patriarch passes away and discovers things about the family they would rather not know. It won the 2014-2015 Obie Award for Best New American Play. 201 Washington Street, Providence. 401-351-4242, TrinityRep.com

Agatha Christie’s beloved detective Hercule Poirot is back on the case in Black Coffee at the Granite Theatre. One of Christie’s lesser known works, Black Coffee is set in the 1930s and centers on Sir Claude Armory, who discovers a formula for the first atom bomb before being poisoned… You guess how. The show runs September 9-October 2. 1 Granite Street, Westerly. 401-596-2341, GraniteTheatre.com


One of the state’s most innovative theatres, The Wilbury Group, stages Ui an adaptation of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, from September 15-October 2. This play, by Bertolt Brecht, is a darkly comedic tale set in 1930s Chicago about the rise of fear-mongering leaders. 393 Broad Street, Providence. 401-400-7100, TheWilburyGroup.org

From September 15-October 16, the Gamm Theatre stages Arcadia by Tom Stoppard, a funny and engaging who-done-it wherein groups of people 200 years apart attempt to solve life’s mysteries at a British mansion. 172 Exchange Street, Pawtucket. 401-723-4266, GammTheatre.org

From September 23-October 16, 2nd Story Theatre stages The Ladies Man, a classic farce by Georges Feydeau. In it, Doctor Hercule Molineaux tells his wife a white lie to cover up a small embarrassment – until, as one expects, all hell breaks loose. 28 Market Street, Warren. 401-247-4200, 2ndStoryTheatre.com

With music written by Elton John, Billy Elliot is sure to be an entertaining evening. Ocean State Theatre stages this contemporary classic about a boy in a working class English town who discovers his love for ballet dancing from September 28-October 23. 1245 Jefferson Boulevard, Warwick. 401-921-1777, OceanStateTheatre.org

The Contemporary Theater Company brings Macbeth to life October 14-November 12. One of Shakespeare’s greatest literary achievements is this tragedy, with murderous characters haunted by guilt and ghosts. 327 Main Street, South Kingstown. 401-218-0282, ContemporaryTheater.com

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