Downton Abbey Returns: Let's Party Like It's 1922!

                  Ring in the New Year with High Drama and High Style 

Season 4 of Downton Abbey on Masterpiece premieres on Rhode Island PBS on Friday, January 17 at 9 p.m. To celebrate, Rhode Island PBS is hosting an Upstairs Dinner Party and a Downstairs Preview Screening at the Park Theatre in Cranston on Friday, January 3, 2014. Join us - let's party like it's 1922! 

Period costume is optional, but it's such a fun part of the event. Downton Abbey Season 4 opens in 1922 - dropped waists, "Flapper" fringe, bobbed and waved hair, t-strap shoes, and long strands of beads were in fashion. Hemlines may have been rising, but formal evening wear still swept the floor with full-length skirts. Check the Web for inspiration - Pinterest has some lovely photos of vintage dresses.  

The Upstairs Dinner Party starts at 6 p.m. and includes a delicious menu and an enlightening and entertaining presentation about period clothing styles by Laurie Brewer, costume and textiles curator at the RISD Museum, as well as a living history presentation by Patricia Perry, a professional historical interpreter with Sneak Peek Productions. Upstairs Dinner Party guests can also bid in a silent auction of a select number of fun and luxurious items. Seating is strictly limited for the Upstairs Dinner Party, so you'll want to get your tickets now. 

The Downstairs Preview Screening will show the first hour of Season 4 on the Park Theatre's big screen at 8:30 p.m. The screening is free and open to the public, and all guests are invited to come in costume. Doors open to the screening public at 7:45 p.m. There is plenty of free parking in the municipal parking lot across the street from the Park Theatre.

Guests who plan to only attend the free screening must pick up their general admission tickets in person in advance at the Park Theatre (848 Park Avenue, Cranston, RI) on or after December 6. Kindly note: Due to expected high demand, the Park Theatre cannot accept telephone, online, or "will call" reservations for the free tickets. Screening tickets must be picked up in person in advance, thank you! (Dinner Party guests will enjoy VIP seating at the screening with no advance ticket pick up necessary - your tickets will be conveniently waiting for you.)

Guests are invited to bring a canned good or non-perishable food item to the Park Theatre to benefit the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. 

All guests - upstairs and downstairs - are eligible to purchase a limited-edition raffle ticket for a one-week stay at the quaint Connemara Country Cottages in Ireland. Tickets are $50 each and only 250 raffle tickets will be sold. We will draw and announce the winner immediately after the screening. Visit our Website for information about the Connemara Country Cottages and to purchase your raffle ticket before they sell out. You don't have to be present to win - but wouldn't it be exciting to hear your name called in a theater resounding with applause! 

Mark your calendar for the premiere of Downton Abbey Season 4 onMasterpiece, on Friday, January 17 at 9 p.m. on Rhode Island PBS.

The Rhode Island PBS Upstairs Dinner Party |Downstairs Preview Screening and local broadcast of Downton Abbey Season 4 on Masterpiece is generously sponsored by Rhode Island Antiques Mall, Hearing Health Professionals of New England, with additional support from Lathrop Insurance Agency and the Warwick Mall.