As part of RWU’s ongoing commitment to community engagement, the University is proud to offer a plethora of programming open to the public from plays and recitals at the performing arts center to free lectures and civil discourse speakers.
Our hope is to raise public awareness and promote debate on a range of issues both local and global, as well as those with academic and social significance. The University hopes to achieve all of this while fostering a connection and spirit of community with the town of Bristol and beyond. Click here for directions.
Reservations & Information
Theatre 401.254.3666
Dance 401.254.3626
American Journey Music 401.254.3568
Instrumental Ensemble 401.254.5745
Spring Choral Concert 401.254.3626
Alive! Arts 401.254.3626
Theatre Series
Feb 5 & 6 8 pm
Bad Axe
By P.J. Barry
Directed by Peter Wright
General $4; Seniors/Students $2
August 1832, the heroic Captain Conrad has been killed and scalped a the final battle of the Black Hawk Indian War. When his wife returns to their home at Fort Winslow with his body, she is accused of his murder. A military inquest will determine if there is adequate evidence to convict her of such a barbarous act. The inquest not only examines the murder but also explores the line between civilized and savage. (Senior Acting Project)
Feb 26-28*, March 4-6 8 pm & 2 pm*
The Spitfire Grill
Music and book by James Valcq
Lyrics and book by Fred Alley
Directed by Stephanie Dean
General $10; Seniors/Students $5
A feisty parolee follows her dreams, based on a page from an old travel book, to a small town in Wisconsin and finds a place for herself working at Hannah's Spitfire Grill. It is for sale but there are no takers for the only eatery in the depressed town, so newcomer Percy suggests to Hannah that she raffle it off. Entry fees are one hundred dollars and the best essay on why you want the grill wins. Soon, mail is arriving by the wheelbarrow full and things are definitely cookin' at the Spitfire Grill.
March 26 & 27
Miss Julie
By August Strindberg
Directed by Kristin Durinick
General $4;Seniors/Students $2
Strindberg treats sexuality and human struggle with a frank realism previously unknown in the theatre in this classic about an aristocratic young woman and her father’s valet. (Senior Directing Project)
April 8 & 9 8 pm
Happy Hour
General $5; Seniors/Students $3
An evening of music, theatre, dance, and comedy. (Stage Company’s variety show)
April 23-25, 29-30, May 1
The Male Animal
By James Thurber and Elliott Nugent
Directed by Jeffrey Martin
General $10; Seniors/Students $5
Tommy Turner has been married for ten years to Ellen, and he is quietly settled in a teaching job at Mid Western University. This is the week end of the Michigan game and Joe Ferguson, the greatest football hero Mid Western has ever had, comes to town and sees Ellen, his old sweetheart. In addition, Tommy is drawn into a controversy when a young intellectual writes an article in which he calls the board of trustees fascists.
Tommy wants to read a letter to his composition class written by Vanzetti and is about to join the ranks of the martyrs who have been fired because the trustees are shouting "Red!" Ellen tries to dissuade Tommy from reading the letter and he tells her to go with Joe and leave him to his books and his principles.
What happens next speaks to courage and what an example of the male animal really is.
Dance Series
March 8 8 pm
Sean Curran Dance Company
FREE (Arts Alive! Series)
Dancer/Choreographer Sean Curran, performing with members of his company. “There's no fresher, more invigorating new American dance now than the choreography of Sean Curran.” The Los Angeles Times
March 10 & 11
Solos, Duets and Trios
General $5;Seniors/Students $3
An evening of choreography by Junior and Senior Dance Performance Studies majors.
May 6-9*
The Dance Theatre In Concert
General $10; Seniors/Students $5
New and innovative works by guest artists Sean Curran and Deganit Shemy, students and faculty.
Music Series
FREE (Arts Alive! Series)
Marilynn Mair
A Brazilian double bill concert, with Marilynn Mair, bandolim, and Luiz Simas, Rio/NYC pianist, performing selections from their recent CD, “Meu Bandolim,” and Choro Democratico from Boston presenting a traditional “roda da choro.” A slideshow of Marilynn’s recent Rio photos will link the two sets.
March 28 8pm
“Ain’t I A Woman”
FREE (Arts Alive! Series)
A Chamber Music Theatre work for actress and trio (cello, piano, percussion). It celebrates the life and times of four African American women: ex-slave and fiery abolitionist Sojouner Truth, renowned novelist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, exuberant folk artist Clementine Hunter, and fervent civil rights worker Fannie Lou Hamer. The musical score is drawn from the heartfelt spirituals of the Deep South, the urban exuberance of the Jazz Age, and contemporary concert music by African Americans.
April 11* 2 pm
American Journey: Musical Roots and Branches
FREE
A history through music with performing artists Jim and Maggi Dalton. An exploration of the fascinating and varied paths of American musical development, from the 19th century to the present day.
May 9 &10 8 pm
RWU Spring Chorus Concert
Directed by Stephanie Dean
General $5;Seniors/Students $3
The RWU chorus presents Broadway through the years.
May 17 7 pm
RWU Instrumental Ensemble
FREE
The Instrumental Ensemble goes wild this semester with an animal-themed program. From “Baby Elephant Walk,” to “Teddy Bear’s Picnic,” join us for an evening of musical fun.
Global Voices
Free and open to the public, Upper Commons
Johnny Earle
Mr. Johnny Earle aka Johnny Cupcakes' lecture series- will tell the story of just exactly how he turned a simple joke into a multi-million dollar business using very non-tradition methods starting at the age of 19. No business plan, no start up loans, no investors, no wholesaling or advertising. Johnny's lecture focuses on starting a brand + business (both web based & retail) with little to no start up money, entrepreneurship, the importance of branding, small business management, product development and marketing as well as communication and graphic design. From-- Tips and tricks for approaching business in innovative and unconventional ways. To-- Useful advice, tools, websites, and direction for those interested in starting a new business. Johnny's lectures around the globe have proven to inspire and motivate both students and faculty alike.
February 11 5:30 pm
“The Heart of Successful Leadership”
Free and open to the public, with a ticket
Mary Tefft White Cultural Center, University Library
Mark Mandell, Esq.
Senior Partner, Mandell, Schwartz & Boisclair, LTD.
As renowned for his devotion to public service as for his momentous successes as a litigator, attorney Mark Mandell has been a prominent voice in the legal community since earning his law degree from Georgetown University in 1974. Today, he’s a partner in Mandell, Schwartz & Boisclair in Providence and dedicates his time to institutions as diverse as the National Center for the Victims of Crime, the Rhode Island Supreme Court Ethics Panel and the Roscoe Pound Institute of Civil Justice.
February 25 5:30 pm
“An Evening With Julia Alvarez” Poet, Novelist, Essayist
Free and open to the public, with a ticket
One of the most critically and commercially successful Latina writers of her time, Julia Alvarez crafts novels, poems and essays shaped largely by a childhood spent in the Dominican Republic until her father’s involvement in a political rebellion forced her family to flee to the United States.
Celebrated for her rigorous investigations of cultural stereotypes in both countries, Alvarez – perhaps best known for “How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents” and “In the Time of Butterflies” (chosen by the National Endowment for the Arts as a national selection for its Big Read program) – explores themes of cultural assimilation and identity in the lives of Hispanic women.
Regardless of topic – the Dominican Republic, vegetarianism, life in the Champlain Valley, her influence on both North and Latin American literature – Alvarez offers keen insights and fresh thinking. Reserve tickets by calling (401) 254-3210.
March 9th, 5:30 – 7:00 PM
Leith Sharp
Mary Tefft White Cultural Center, University Library
Commitment to Community through Sustainability
Leith Sharp
Former Director, Harvard Green Campus Initiative, Cambridge, MA has worked with universities for the last 15 years to achieve organizational change in pursuit of campus environmental sustainability. Leith was recruited by Harvard in 2000 to found and direct Harvard's Green Campus Initiative and has worked for the last 8 years to build Harvard's program up from a staff of one in 2000 to over 25 professional staff in 2008, providing Harvard with one of the largest, most effective and self funded green campus organizations in the world.
April 20th, 5:30 – 7:00 PM
Vikram Bhatt
Mary Tefft White Cultural Center, University Library
Commitment to Community through Sustainability
Vikram Bhatt is a Professor of Architecture, McGill University, where he teaches courses in Housing. He also leads the Minimum Cost Housing Group (MCHG) of the McGill School of Architecture, an educational and research program with an international orientation that focuses attention on the human settlement problems of poor nations. He is a member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.