From Here to Where (world premiere), Book by Umberto Crenca, Music by The Gillen Street Ensemble; Video Design by Jacob Dixon, Lighting Design by Andy Russ, Set Design by Monica Shinn, Stage Managed by Maxime Hendrikse Liu. Produced by Wilbury Theatre Group (WTG) at 475 Valley Street in Providence, RI. Plays through October 5, 2025.
by Julie-Anne Whitney
When you walk through the door at the Wilbury Theatre, you are drawn in by the soulful, bluesy, rock-like sounds of The Gillen Street Ensemble (GSE), a Providence-based music collaborative. You have been invited to their basement jam session, which has a definite mood. The vibe is loose and cool as the musicians playfully improvise. In this basement of curiosities, designed by Monica Shinn, you find many strange and quirky objects: a dinosaur-sized egg on wheels, a rubber chicken, a comically large skeleton, a giant light bulb, a megaphone, a gong, and dozens of other unusual items. What does this mean, you wonder. What is this about?
From Here to Where is not your typical theatrical experience. WTG Artistic Director, Josh Short, calls it a “happening” unlike anything you’ve seen before. The experience unfolds primarily through monologue, music, and movement. There is no plot to guide you through the story. Instead, with a uniquely rugged magnetism, the show’s creator, Umberto Crenca, leads you on a wild, unrestrained journey which he calls “part lyrical sermon, part political exorcism.”
There is no designated setting and no particular destination for this journey. One might say that while we’re in the basement together, we’re in a void – a kind of gap between “here” and “where(?).” Or maybe we’re all unknowingly stuck in a purgatory disguised as Earth. Or, as Crenca later suggests, maybe it doesn’t matter where we are because “it’s all nonsense.” The program also doesn’t include an official list of characters, but Crenca’s fantastical musings can be found on large sheets of paper in the lobby, offering a fascinating glimpse into the mind of an artist. The “characters” listed there are: God, Dick Tater (aka Mr. Big Stuff), Whistle Blower, The Fiddler, The Existentialist, Mousey, and The Jester.
Crenca’s narrator-like character (aka The Jester) is a wonderfully tangled amalgamation of modern-day troubadour, rocker hippie, and poetic preacher. As he stands behind a fringe-trimmed lectern, grieving and raging against a world teeming with corruption, ignorance, hatred, and war, he asks us to consider “the overwhelming nature of it all.” He calls out to “barbaric humans – brutal destroyers of all that is living” and reminds us not to “ignore [our] senses so [we] no longer feel what’s real.” He pushes us to contemplate “what is right?,” declaring that a “radical and immediate change” is the “only path to salvation.” These complex reflections are Crenca’s way of responding to the impossible expectations, pressures, and pains of being alive.
Joining Crenca on this strange and winding journey are his fellow musicians of The Gillen Street Ensemble: Heather Ahern, Chris Anderson, Susan Clausen, Hannah B. Devine, Alan Greco, Alice Jackson, Mitch Mackenzie, and Cliff Wood – whose rousing performances are the engine that pushes the show forward. The cast rounds out with dancers Amy Maria Burns, Nina Kossler, and Michelle Salguiero.
From Here to Where is exploratory and experimental. It’s chaotic and loud. It’s a protest– an escape. You will find substance and meaning here if you’re open to it. Unlike most theatrical experiences, this show is not necessarily meant to be understood; it is meant to be felt and experienced. It cannot be defined or confined. From Here to Where will not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is, in a way, for everyone. For more information and tickets, go to: www.thewilburygroup.org/
