RI Arts

Louis Family Restaurant co-owner Albert Gianfrancesco, left, Matthew Osubor, center, and Alexandre Rockwell, right, at the Providence restaurant where one of the scenes from "Big Daddy's Flowers" was filmed.

How a chance meeting at a Providence market launched a friendship and an aspiring filmmaker’s career

Brown grad Matthew Osubor picked up a shopper’s dropped orange. The man he handed it back to turned out to be director Alexandre Rockwell.

Latest Arts Headlines

THEATER REVIEW

Al fresco and bilingual, ‘¡Qué Diablos! Fausto’ gives the devil his due

Providence’s Teatro en El Verano stages a charming, linguistically challenging production that makes a classic play accessible to those who don’t speak the language of the original work.

RI ARTS

Indigenous composer Cris Derksen highlights R.I.’s history with ‘First Light’

Her work for cello, comissioned by Newport Classical and premiering this weekend, is inspired by the Wampanoag people.

Sam Waterston talks Great Gatsby, wealth disparity, and other favorite topics

A star in the 1974 film adaptation of Fitzgerald’s famous novel, Waterson is to appear at a Newport Event marking The Great Gats’s 100th anniversary.

THEATER REVIEW
Theatre by the Sea serves up ‘Waitress’ with a side of extraordinary
As musicals go, ‘Waitress’ is a marginally nutritious blue-plate special, but every member of this company brings heart to this production.

INNOVATOR Q&A
Can favorite teen tunes help dementia patients? A Brown University study finds they can.
“Music and Memory” examines how music can reduce agitation in people with living with Alzheimer’s disease.

How Newport ‘worked its magic’ on ‘The Gilded Age’ creator Julian Fellowes
The Rhode Island destination and its historic mansions get starring roles in HBO’s popular period drama, returning Sunday.

RI HISTORY
Details of a 250-year-old R.I. home’s ties to slavery were uncovered last year. Now its future lies in its past.
The Providence property known as the “Shakespeare Head” building will house a new nonprofit aiming to “engage the public in a thoughtful examination of the past.”

Folow Globe R.I.

FROM OUR PARTNERS

product by Studio/B. What is this?This content was produced by Boston Globe Media's Studio/B in collaboration with the advertiser. The news and editorial departments of the Boston Globe had no role in its production or display.

product by BG BRANDLAB. What is this?This content was produced by Boston Globe Media's Studio/B in collaboration with the advertiser. The news and editorial departments of the Boston Globe had no role in its production or display.

More Rhode Island Arts Headlines

INNOVATOR Q&A

Kris Wilton began as deputy director, audience experience at RISD Museum in Providence in April.

A new face at the RISD Museum on fostering connection between people and art in a digital age

Kris Wilton, deputy director, audience and engagement, at the RISD Museum speaks to the Globe on how an art museum can compete for attention in an internet-obsessed world. 5:55 a.m.

STAGE REVIEW

Taavon Gamble as Guy Jacobs and Cloteal L. Horne as Angel Allen in Trinity Rep’s “Blues for an Alabama Sky,” running through June 29 in Providence.

Better late than never, ‘Blues for an Alabama Sky’ gets a poignant production at R.I.’s Trinity Rep

Lyrical and deeply moving, Pearl Cleage’s Jazz Age drama offers perspective on our own uncertain times. 5:55 a.m.

On Tuesday, June 10, 2025, Trinity Repertory Company in Providence honored actor, writer, producer and author Tina Fey, right, and Broadway leading lady Kelli O’Hara, left, both of whom received Trinity Repertory Company’s Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts. (Craig Keenan)

Tina Fey and Kelli O’Hara honored at Trinity Rep’s Pell Awards for lifetime achievement in the arts

At Trinity Repertory Company's annual gala Tuesday night, many in attendance voiced strong concerns about declining funding for the arts. 1:53 p.m.

STAGE REVIEW

Guitarist Nick Mendillo and Annabelle Iredale as Heather in “American Idiot” at Wilbury Theatre Group, running through June 22 in Providence.

Wilbury’s ‘American Idiot’ is a triumphant, headbanging, full-frontal assault

The terrific production of the 90-minute punk opera based on Green Day’s 2004 Grammy Award-winning concept album brings a “new kind of tension” to the local theater scene. 5:55 a.m.

BOOKS

A woman reads a book while sunbathing during summer in Montevideo, Uruguay, Jan. 22, 2025.

Here’s what Rhode Island’s movers and shakers are reading

Got your summer reading list? Rhode Map asked some of the state’s movers and shakers for the best books they’ve read in the last 90 days. 10:09 a.m.

THEATER REVIEW

Meagan Lewis-Michelson in the title role of “Always… Patsy Cline” at Theatre By The Sea. The show runs through June 21 in Wakefield, R.I.

‘Always… Patsy Cline’ at Theatre By The Sea entertains but never quite engages

Despite its personal touch and first-person storytelling, this summer season opener keeps its audience at a distance. 5:55 a.m.

RI ARTS

PVDFest is an arts and culture festival with international and local music performances on multiple stages, art installations, artisan markets, parades and more.

PVDFest will roar back to downtown Providence Sept. 5-6. Here’s what to expect.

Festival goers should expect musical performances, a battle of the bands, a hip hop competition, more than 180 craft vendors, and dozens of food trucks. 12:37 p.m.

RI THINGS TO DO

The future of the “Rock and Roll Yard Sale” in Providence was uncertain earlier after its lead partner backed out ahead of this year’s event, but organizers now say the street fair will return on Saturday in a new location.

The show will go on: After doubts, ‘Rock and Roll Yard Sale’ in Providence set for Saturday

“Part marketplace and part block party,” the popular street fair will return in the city’s West End this weekend, months after organizers voiced concern for its future. 10:41 a.m.