What 'big ideas' are in store for Trinity Rep's 2024-25 season? Check out the lineup
PROVIDENCE – One way to get people talking is to engage them in provocative theater, which was the guiding principle in the selection of shows for Trinity Repertory Company's 2024-25 season.
Artistic director Curt Columbus says the team was conscious of public reluctance to return to movie theaters after the pandemic, but he says the experience of live theater is very different.
“This remains a place where you get to have big ideas and be part of a large audience,” he says. “We wondered how to start a conversation with those around us and get audiences to connect with ideas and each other.”
The result is a six-show season that he says will leave people talking and thinking long after the curtain drops. It also features locally written and relevant pieces that Trinity audiences seem to want.
“It started with ‘The Prince of Providence,’” Columbus says, referring to the stage adaptation of former Journal reporter Mike Stanton’s biography of longtime Providence Mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci. “It feels like this is what audiences want – local stories.”
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Here is Trinity Repertory Company's 2024-25 lineup:
“POTUS: Or, Behind Every Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive,” opening Sept. 5. Columbus is directing this farce promising to tickle audiences during the final weeks before the presidential election. “Think about fall 2024 – there are going to be a lot of old men talking to us. The women are the focus here,” he says. The story centers on the “smart, talented women” working to address a public relations nightmare swirling around the president. “This is an antidote to what’s on the airwaves – a straight-up farce. It’s rare that they’re so good,” Columbus says.
“Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B,” opening Oct. 3 and running in repertory with “POTUS” through Nov. 10. This reimagining of the Sherlock Holmes stories finds Holmes teaming with her American roommate to solve crimes in post-pandemic London. Columbus calls it “fast and funny, inventive, sweet and charming with strong, funny, clever women.”
“A Christmas Carol.” Due to long-awaited renovations to the upstairs theater at Trinity, the holiday show will be hosted off-site at a location the company will name in the coming months. Dates will also be revealed at that time. This year’s version of the Charles Dickens tale of redemption will bear the touch of director Tatyana-Marie Carlo, who gave audiences “La Broa’ (Broad Street)” this season. “She always makes joyful, musical, fun-filled shows. Her aesthetic is so perfect for ‘A Christmas Carol,’” Columbus says.
“Someone Will Remember Us,” opening Jan. 23, 2025. Drawing on its 2006 production of “Boots on the Ground,” which relayed stories of Rhode Islanders serving in Iraq, this new piece overlays more real stories of local veterans, Iraqi refugees living here now and members of a Gold Star family. “This is the most beautiful story told from both sides, looking at what you do after a conflict – how you heal and come together,” Columbus says. “It’s so relevant today.”
“La Tempestad – The Tempest,” opening March 27. Carlo and others adapted and translated the William Shakespeare tale of magic, shipwrecks, fantasy and forgiveness for a unique blend of Elizabethan English and Spanish. Incorporating feedback from earlier bilingual productions, Columbus says this will feature supertitles showing Spanish dialogue in English and English dialogue in Spanish to make the production accessible to all. Originally staged in 2018 through Trinity’s collaborative summer work with Rhode Island Latino Arts, it’s the first to transfer to the company’s main stage.
“Blues for an Alabama Sky,” opening May 29. Drift back to Harlem’s music scene during the Great Depression for this musical drama that examines life, art, meaning and intimacy. Calling playwright Pearl Cleage “one of the most underdiscovered and underproduced voices of American theater,” Columbus highlights the lushness of the period piece and how its issues of women’s reproductive rights are relevant almost a century later. “It’s a drama, but uplifting, with a lot of redemption. It’s a banquet of a play, because there’s so much in it,” he says.
For ticket information, go to trinityrep.com.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Trinity Repertory Company 2024-25 season launches with political farce