When I moved to Rhode Island in the mid-’60s, Trinity Rep was just starting up and there were only a few local theatres, all struggling for audiences. Here we are now in 2016 with a plethora of high quality professional and community theatres to choose from.

This winter, get away from the TV, bundle up, and make that trip to one of the many theatres in Rhode Island. I’ve included a few that I enjoy. And most of them offer senior discounts.

2nd Story Theatre

Ed Shea’s 2nd Story Theatre has been around a long time, settling on Market St. in downtown Warren, where the emphasis is on contemporary plays, with a few classics thrown in, with theatre space both downstairs and in the second story.

Terry Johnson’s “Hysteria” opens the year on January 20, a play that seniors should enjoy. It’s a farce about Sigmund Freud and Salvador Dali meeting at the psychoanalyst’s home with “egos running amuck.”

David Mamet’s modern classic, “Speed the Plow,” opens March 10. Shea calls it “a razor-sharp satire on the ethics of the film industry.”

For tickets call 247-4200.

Ocean State Theatre Company

“Breaking Legs,” one of the funniest plays about the theatre I have ever seen, plays January 31 through February 16 at Warwick’s Ocean State Theatre Company, followed on February 26 through March 13 by the Tony Award-winning musical, “1776.”

Ocean State also produces a number of one-night comedy shows and concerts that appeal to seniors. Call 921-6800 for reservations.

Sandra Feinstein Gamm Theatre

Pawtucket’s Gamm Theatre presents George Brant’s “Grizzly Mama” January 7 through February 7.

Artistic Director Tony Estrella describes the play as “a pitch-black comedy about motherhood, feminism and the shallowness of sound-bite politics, eliciting shocks and laughs in equal measure. This looks like a good one as we move deeper into the political year.

Irish playwright Martin McDonagh (“The Beauty Queen of Leenane”) has written “a blasphemously funny whodunit complete with flying skulls and bloody hatchets,” titled “A Skull in Connemara” that will be on the Gamm stage during the months of February and March. Call 723-4266 for reservations.

Providence Performing Arts Center

Direct from Broadway, the acclaimed masterpiece launches its National Tour right here in Rhode Island, as many Broadway shows have been doing.

The Tony Award-winning production by the Roundabout Theatre Company should be one of the hottest tickets of the year. “Cabaret” plays January 26-30.

It gets better!

“Pippin,” Broadway’s high-flying, death-defying hit musical, full of extraordinary acrobatics, music, and a great story comes to PPAC February 16-21. If you have seen the musical in the past, you will want to see this all-new production, winner of four Tony Awards in 2013.

Rogers and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music” follows, March 9-13 in an all-new production, with some of the most memorable music ever written for the Broadway stage.Call 421-ARTS for reservations.

Trinity Rep

“The Hunchback of Seville” by Charise Castro Smith opens the 2016 season February 4 through March 4.

At the turn of the 16th century, Columbus (Christopher, not Artistic Director Curt) has just returned from the New World. Maxima “Terrible” Segunda, adopted sister of dying Queen Isabella, is locked away in a tower, until they realize that the future of the country lies in her hands. What follows is a bitingly funny take on Spanish history.

The classic Harper Lee novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” has been adapted for the stage by Christopher Sergel and will be directed by Brian McElerney March 3 through April 3. This is one not to be missed. Call 351-4242 for reservations.