Cianci Foundation Leaders Blast Trinity Rep for “The Prince of Providence” Play

Cianci Foundation Leaders Blast Trinity Rep for “The Prince of Providence” Play

Two board members of the Cianci Foundation are criticizing Trinity Rep for staging a theatrical version of the book “Prince of Providence” written by former Providence Journal reporter Mike Stanton about former Providence Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci. 

“It is disappointing to see Trinity produce this play based on a book Buddy didn’t like and is a misrepresentation of him. It seems as though Trinity has a very short memory in terms of what Buddy did for Trinity.  His ability to engineer a loan for them to keep them afloat -- Trinity wouldn’t exist without Buddy. It’s a shame to see such disrespect,” said Brad Turchetta, Vincent “Buddy” Cianci’s nephew and Chair of the Cianci Foundation Board.

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Trinity Rep in its announcement of the play said, “The nation knows [Cianci] from Crimetown and Operation Plunder Dome, but Providence has a deeper and more complicated relationship with Buddy Cianci. A charismatic visionary who was also a corrupt philanderer, the long-time mayor defied the odds time after time – from his very first election to winning again after being arrested on assault charges.”

Cianci’s former Chief-of-staff -- who is a member of the Cianci Foundation -- is equally critical of Trinity’s decision to produce the play based on the book.

“The Prince of Providence is a book based on character assassination. It is deeply disappointing that Trinity Rep  — an organization to which mayor Cianci was a great benefactor of — would run a sketch based on this inaccurate account of his life," said Artin Coloian. 

As Mayor, Cianci did assist the financially troubled theater company with loans and grants that on a number of occasions came close to going bankrupt. “The Trinity Repertory Company has received a loan of $570,000 and a line of credit worth $345,000 through a complex City of Providence plan aimed at stabilizing the theater's finances," it was reported in 1996.

“The new plan would replace one announced early last year in which Trinity would have sold its building on Washington Street to the city. Under the new plan, Trinity would keep the building. The theater disclosed Friday that it ran deficits totaling $265,000 in fiscal 1993 and 1994," the Providence Journal reported in January 1996.

Today, Trinity is more financially stable, but according to the most recent tax reports by the non-profit, the organization netted $508,186 in 2016, but ran a negative balance of $646,640 in 2015.

Prince of Providence — Fair Portrait or Hatchet Job

The book “Prince of Providence” was a national bestseller when it was first published in 2003. Stanton made the rounds, appearing on the Don Imus radio show pitching the book. At the time, Cianci was in federal prison. Stanton’s book was widely criticized by Cianci loyalist Coloian.

“The Prince of Providence is a story woven directly from the pages of the Providence Journal. It reads like a chronology of Journal stories. If a high school student turned in a paper like The Prince, he would undoubtedly be brought to the principal’s office for submitting someone else’s work. It is very possible that Mike Stanton cut and pasted his way, putting his book together in the Journal archives, using news accounts directly from an array of reporters’ stories of the mayor’s public and private life. He thanks many of his Journal colleagues for their stories. I wonder if he will be sharing his advance with them. He owes them that much,” wrote Coloian.

Coloian wrote a column blistering the book in 2003. It was first published in the now defunct Providence Phoenix and was republished in GoLocal at the time of Cianci’s death.

“The family was never consulted [about the play],” said Turchetta.

Editor's Note: GoLocal's CEO Josh Fenton is featured in "The Prince of Providence."