John McDaid

It was only a matter of time before someone put the story of that secret apartment on stage. You know the one, from back in the aughts, when a group of local artists built a hidden room in the Providence Place Mall and lived in it for four years. Well, another local arts collective, The Harpies, have written an interesting musical which takes that apartment as the core, and builds a story around it.

Review: A HILARIOUS CAPER UNDER THE STARS: 'THE 39 STEPS' IN WILCOX PARK: Colonial Theatre mounts delightful spy thriller spoof

Review: TWELFTH NIGHT at Contemporary Theater Company offers charming summer Shakespeare on the Saugatucket

For its first show in Rhode Island, the Reverie Theatre Group offers a superb — and sadly short — run of Frank Wedekind's challenging 1891 drama The Awakening of Spring. With a fine ensemble cast, thoughtful directorial choices, and intense in-the-round staging, this is an outstanding debut production that deserves to be seen.

DOUBT: A PARABLE at Gamm Theatre. Shanley's tight, twisty meditation on truth and belief gets a fine production

Review: NATIONAL TOUR OF 'COMPANY' at Providence Performing Arts Center: The innovative, gender-swapped version makes its Providence debut

FENCES at Trinity Rep: Crisp production of the August Wilson classic

Twelfth Night is possibly Shakespeare's most brilliant comedy, packed with ribald wordplay, mistaken identities, and revenge, tied up in a tangled web of unrequited love. The slick, energetic production at the Gamm Theatre gets every bit of it. This is a dazzling show, stuffed with talent in every role, and staged with panache. It is Shakespeare made accessible, and it is deliciously funny. Not to be missed.

CTC'S ANNUAL 24-HOUR PLAY FESTIVAL DAZZLES AGAIN at Contemporary Theater Company. Written, produced, and performed in a day. Amazing.

The breathtaking production of Paula Vogel's Indecent at the Wilbury tackles this challenge head on, and the result is one of the most powerful theatrical experiences of the season. Top line: Go see this show before it closes on Dec. 23.

Burbage mounts captivating RI premiere of Barnes' intense slice-of-life comedy

As written—and as typically performed—Sam Shepard's 1980 dark comedy True West can feel like it skates around some of the troubling issues lurking beneath America's self image. Its vision of a dichotomous West of freedom and constraint, open range and suburb, can seem a naive gloss over questions of dislocated Native American nations and the slave labor which drove the engine of nineteenth-century progress. Not so with the keenly visualized, expertly directed, and authentically acted production at Brown/Trinity MFA. This is a brilliant take on this classic that everyone should see. Even if you don't think you like Shepard. Seriously.

Outstanding performances light up the stage in this twisty futuristic tale.

Shakespeare, late in his career, braided many of his preoccupations—love, the machinations of court, magic, low comedy, visual spectacle, theatre itself—into what may be his culminant work, 'The Tempest.' The Colonial Theatre production in Wilcox Park, Westerly, ticks all these boxes, offering a spectacular evening that will surprise and delight even long-time fans of the Bard's last solo play.

What did our critic think of THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR at Contemporary Theater Company?

Arthur Miller's 1964 drama explores how fascism paralyzed even those who considered resistance; this production at the Head Trick Theatre strips the play to its bones, focuses on the characters, and delivers a visceral punch.

Wilbury's world-premiere production of GOODNIGHT SWEETHEART, GOODNIGHT is a feast for the senses and a pointed modern feminist take on the work of Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi.

Wilbury mounts Teddy Lytle's trenchant, stylish (mostly) one-man show with music about addiction and recovery

What did our critic think of THE OLDEST PROFESSION at Burbage Theatre Company?

What did our critic think of WE'RE GONNA DIE at Wilbury Theatre Group?