Five Great Things to Do in Rhode Island This Weekend -- November 12, 2021

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry

Enjoy fine dining specials during the last weekend of Newport restaurant week. 

Local chefs and mixologists from local restaurants will fuse vibrant seasonal flavors into farm-to-table and dock-to-plate dishes while offering a variety of deals and discounts.

Cuisines include everything from seafood and contemporary American to west coast Mexican.

See list of participating restaurants -- and deals -- here. 

PHOTO: Zelda's/Discover Newport promo

Take in Love and Murder

Shakespeare wrote that the play’s the thing — and it is this weekend, at Brown University. 

"A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder" is playing Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Providence. 

About the play:

On the day of his mother’s funeral, the penniless Monty Navarro learns an incredible secret: he is distantly related to an enormously wealthy family of aristocrats. In fact, only eight people stand between Monty and an earldom.

A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder is the madcap story of Monty’s murderous climb up the aristocratic ladder, replete with romance, intrigue, and a few killer bees along the way. 

Show Dates/Times:
November 12 @ 7:00 p.m.
November 13 @ 7:00 p.m.
November 14 @ 2:00 p.m.
November 14 @ 7:00 p.m.

All performances will be at the spacious Fishman Studio in the Granoff Center located at 154 Angell Street. 

Tickets are free, and are available online and at the door.

The Browns and Slavery

On Saturday, join Ray Rickman, consultant on Charles Rappleye's book, "Sons of Providence" for coffee — and a compelling talk about the Browns and slavery, and view a never-before-seen 1700s letter written by John Brown about his involvement selling humans.

Set against a colonial backdrop teeming with radicals and reactionaries, visionaries, spies, and salty sea captains, "Sons of Providence" is the biography of brothers John and Moses Brown, two classic American archetypes bound by blood yet divided by the specter of more than half a million Africans enslaved throughout the colonies. 
 
WHEN: Saturday, November 13 at 10 AM
WHERE: Stages of Freedom, 10 Westminster Street, Providence

Register here.
 
Tickets: $15 (limited seating --proceeds pay for swimming lessons for Black youth

Shop Local for Holidays

Get your holiday spirit on — at the Providence artisans' holiday premiere at the WaterFire Arts Center on Sunday, from 10 AM to 4 PM. 

The event features over 70 local fine art and craft vendors for all your early holiday shopping needs. 

There will be paintings, ceramics, jewelry, clothing, accessories, glass, sculpture and more all under one roof in the fantastic Waterfire Arts Center.

All your favorite PVD Artisans will be there displaying their handmade giftwares, and food trucks will be on-site, too. 

Join the fun, shop early, shop local. Free admission and free parking. 

The next time you can catch this event? December 18 and 19 — so get your shopping in early. 

Photo: WaterFire Arts Center

Get Lifted in Providence

The Wilbury Theatre Group’s latest production is so popular, it's been extended through November 20.

LIFTED by Charlie Thurston is part absurdist family drama, part imaginative theatrical fantasia. 

In an environmentally ravaged near-future, birds have returned from their recent extinction to carry a teenage boy off into the sky. Is it an act of salvation or a declaration of war?

As the avian abduction sends ripples through the city, then the country, then the world, his twin brother, father and girlfriend have to turn to each other for meaning. 

Learn more here.

PHOTO: Erin X. Smithers