From basement to the big stage, how one of Providence’s newest musical performances got its start

PROVIDENCE – At 74, Umberto Crenca is still wrestling with the existential questions about the meaning of life and existence that, as a young man, he thought he would have pinned down by now.

As a not-young man, those nagging questions about the nature of existence itself have become prescient. Crenca is now taking some of that dialogue to the stage to open the Wilbury Theatre Group’s 2025-26 season.

“I am trying, through all of this, to calm myself for what is inevitable. I dream of a peaceful passing, from here to where,” Crenca said during a telephone interview, quoting from one of his lines in the show.

“From Here to Where” doesn’t neatly fit into any theatrical category. It’s not a musical, but it has music. It’s not a play, but it has dialogue. Perhaps performance art is the closest label that fits. The description on the Wilbury Theatre Group’s website describes it this way:

“Part lyrical sermon, part political exorcism, and part late-night jam session, From Here to Where is an ensemble-driven living composition that confronts questions of existence, power, and transformation. Structured less like a story and more like a reckoning, it unfolds through monologue, music, movement, sculpture, film, and satire – swerving between psychic vignettes, sacred ritual, and primal scream.”

Umberto Crenca recites poetry as the band plays and dancer Heather Ahern glides by in rehearsals for “From Here to Where,” which will open Wilbury Theatre Group’s season in Providence on Sept. 18.

This “lyrical sermon” and jam session was conceived in Crenca’s basement, a former Italian American Club that he and his wife bought in a dilapidated state and converted into their sprawling home. The basement is a special and gigantic space, originally hosting a bar and two bocce courts.

But it’s what happens there that led to the creation of “From Here to Where.” On Wednesdays, Crenca and his wife, Susan Clausen, but mostly Clausen, make dinner, and then they free jam with a group of friends.

“It’s a completely free jam,” he said. “We go down there, plug in and start playing. I’ve been doing this kind of thing most of my life, and I love every kind of music there is, and we’re not interested in cover tunes.”

For nearly five years, The Gillen Street Ensemble (named after the street Crenca’s house is on) jammed, and Clausen put down the banjo and “converted” to the bass.

The coalescing moment was when Crenca asked the Wilbury Theatre Group if he could play for one night as an accompaniment to a month-long show of his paintings in October 2023 at the WaterFire Arts Center, which shares a building with the Wilbury Theatre Group.

Crenca is one of the founders of AS220 and was its longtime artistic director.

Wilbury Theatre Group Artistic Director Josh Short said he expected, based on Crenca’s description of the 2023 show, to see a jazz band concert.

“When the show happened, it was much more theatrical than anticipated,” he said.

Crenca wore his “duality costume,” was handing out cards at the door, and had a phony security guard hanging out.

“It was old-school energy,” he said. “It felt like going to a performance art piece.”

‘I’ll do you one better’

While the show with his exhibit was a great experience, Short said he didn’t think Crenca wanted to pursue it, or the theater, further.

“Maybe six months ago, I went back to Josh, and said I’ve been working on this material, I think I could do a couple of days, and he said, ‘I’ll do you one better: Why don’t you open my season with a 12-day run and do a piece at Fringe Fest,’ which we did,” Crenca said.

Short’s version of events is much the same, but he said he only suggested it being the season opener after going to Crenca’s study, seeing outlines of the script and watching the ensemble gather, work, dine and jam in Crenca’s basement.

Crenca pulled in some older writings and then wrote new pieces for the new performance, working to create an arc, and the ensemble built music around the pieces, Crenca said.

Each performance will be a little bit different. While some of the music is set, much of it will still be improvised. The length of each show will be dictated by how long the jam sessions last during each performance.

But it’s not just about Crenca, with choreographed dance, as there are video pieces, some new, some old, playing during the performance.

Bring magic to the theater

The Gillen Street Ensemble represents a place, Crenca’s basement, just as it represents a sense of time and being, a space where people gather to share, to make art, to argue, to jam.

The basement is a special place, Crenca and Short said. To bring what Crenca and the ensemble worked up to Wilbury’s stage, it meant creating a semblance of the intimacy Short felt when he first went to hang out for a rehearsal, sitting on a bed in the basement, seemingly a part of the crew.

“They eat dinner, they argue, they talk about politics and art – it’s an incredible family vibe,” Short said. “It’s like, they’re making magic at this house, so how do we get that magic into the theater?”

The answer was to bring much of that former Italian American Club basement vibe to the theater, putting the audience as close to the action as possible, and just taking the decor from Crenca’s basement to recreate the space.

Monica Shinn‘s set design has the audience watching from Crenca’s perspective.

What does the rest of the season look like?

Wilbury’s 2025-26 season starts with “From Here to Where,” running from Sept. 18 to Oct. 5, for 12 performances.

Wilbury Theater Group offers season memberships, and ticket prices vary, as the company offers a “pay-what-you-can” model, offering $10 admission for people who can’t afford a full-price ticket, standard admission for $38 and “community partner” tickets for $55.

The rest of the season is: