(8.22) The Wilbury Theatre Group and WaterFire Providence announce Decameron, Providence: New Stories for a New Era. A co-production between the two organizations, and featuring dozens of performing artists and community groups over a two-week period, Decameron Providence is inspired by the framing story of the 1352 classic by Giovanni Boccaccio in which ten citizens of Florence gathered outdoors during the 1348 bubonic plague. Following the best practices of the day by social distancing in isolation for fourteen days, they spent the time relating wry stories about the state of the Florentine Republic and their changing world.
Events of Decameron, Providence take place from Sunday, August 9 through Saturday, August 22, with ticketed performances happening only on Tuesday-Saturday evenings (advance tickets required). From Wilbury:
Our Stories happen Tuesday – Saturday in 10 outdoor performance spaces,
spread out over the WaterFire and ALCO building campus.
These performance spaces are divided into ‘East’ and ‘West’ zones.
Each zone includes 5 Artists in 5 outdoor performance spaces, and
Audience members are permitted to visit one zone per night.
In an abundance of caution, the Department of Health has nixed the bloodletting and tobacco-enema booths, as well as the flagellation parade. Having made safety a priority, organizers decided the public and the actors could best be protected by eliminating the theater itself.
[Performances will be] presented outdoors on 10 stages and performance areas on the spacious grounds of the WaterFire Arts Center and the historic American Locomotive Company building. Working with support from members of the Brown University School of Medicine and the Rhode Island Dept. of Health the group started with current best health practices and interpreted them theatrically, including adding Entr’Acte engagements that explain and reinforce the science and context of public health principles.
Please go the websites for all the details, including info on the variety of musical and performing artists on the schedule.
(Seen here is A Tale from The Decameron by prolific pre-Raphaelite artist John William Waterhouse.)
Decameron Providence, Sunday, August 9 – Saturday, August 22, WaterFire Arts Center, 475 Valley Street, (directions)