In Rhode Island, community theaters showcase resilience

What is now known as “community theater” sprang up during The Little Theater Movement between 1912 and 1925, as small, volunteer-based theater groups emerged across the United States and produced plays with a strong emphasis on community engagement rather than commercial success. These early troupes performed in found spaces such as churches, halls, or stables and operated with small budgets, limited production values, and short runs. They still do.

“There has always been something about that word ‘community’ before ‘theater’ that connotes less-than. Nothing can be further from the truth,” said Rona Mann, a local theater critic and radio show host on WBLQ in Westerly, R.I. “Nothing is more rewarding in our arts and entertainment than a sense of community.”

“Community theaters spark passion in and provide opportunity for young people, who become the artists that shape the future of the artform. And they build audiences for professional theater,” said Howard Sherman,” the former executive director of the American Theatre Wing, a New York City-based nonprofit organization. “We need to thank them.”

Today, according to the American Association of Community Theaters, there are more community theaters (over 6,000 across the United States and its territories), involving more participants (over 1.5 million volunteers), presenting more performances of more productions (over 46,000 productions per year), and playing to more people (over 86 million annually) than any other performing art in the country.

In Rhode Island, there is a robust community theater scene of approximately 60 troupes. Each has an interesting story to tell.

Here are three.

Raising expectations

Sitting upon the highest point in downtown Westerly is a handsomely restored Greek Revival Church built in the 1840s. The building was home to the Broad Street Christian Church and, until recently, also hosted The Colonial Theatre troupe – a professional company that still offers free outdoor Shakespeare on summer evenings in historic Wilcox Park.

In 2000, the church doors opened as The Granite Theatre , a 140-seat community theater offering a year-round, seven-show line-up.

Change came 2023, when the 11-member board hired Nicole DiMattei as the theater’s Artistic Director.

A recent transplant from New York City, DiMattei had performed, produced, directed, choreographed, and wrote professional for-profit theatrical productions for the better part of 20 years.

DiMattei’s tenure started with the season of shows she inherited from the previous administration. Included was Tom Griffin’s “The Boys Next Door,” a comedy about the lives of four men with neurodiversity who live in a group home in Boston. The play was written in 1986 and has since been called out for its outdated understanding of these characters’ conditions and its now-inappropriate use of language to reference them.

In her program notes, DiMattei explained her directorial approach to this work: “I wanted to make sure we took every precaution to tell this story in a way that moved us forward in how we talk about this intricate subject [and] for all of us at the Granite Theatre to take at least one step in the right direction.” This included having cast, crew, and front of house staff comprised of neurodivergent and neurotypical persons.

She also brought a greater degree of professionalism to the audition and rehearsal process, which has increased the number of quality local performers coming out for shows.

A more eclectic season of shows is now in the offering.

“Nicole has been an absolute joy and breath of fresh air,” longtime arts and culture critic Nancy Burns-Fusaro said in a phone interview. “She’s smart, she’s talented, and has a wonderful, welcoming way that has enchanted the community.”

Longevity, resilience, and found spaces

The Community Players ’ first performance was the melodrama “Milestones,” in 1921, at the Old Star Theatre – a former Masonic Temple on Pawtucket’s Main Street. The Pawtucket Times, which started operation just the year before, noted that the production “proved conclusively the value of the amateur theatrical organization in the social life of our community.”

That show turned out to be a milestone in its own right, for The Community Players went on to produce nearly 400 plays over the next 103 years, and counting. It even outlived the Pawtucket Times.

Although the company found a place in the heart of the community and has significantly contributed to the cultural base of Pawtucket and the Blackstone Valley area, it’s been hard-pressed to find a consistent and affordable place to operate – a common problem for nonprofit organizations. Still, The Company Players never failed to offer a season of programming or attract a faithful audience. That is, until the theater was shuttered in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a sobering report from Theatre Communications Group, the theater industry’s post-pandemic recovery has been precarious at best, with revenue from ticket sales and subscriptions 55 percent lower than what it was before the pandemic.

Layoffs are not an issue for community theaters since their staff, cast, and leadership are volunteers. Neither is theatergoer investment and institutional loyalty, not when your theater has been a part of the local community ecosystem for over a hundred years. Although subscription sales are down for The Community Players, individual ticket sales are not.

“When you’ve been operating in the same community for so long and often at different locations throughout Pawtucket, loyalty has never been an issue,” said Christopher Margadonna, the board president for the Community Players. “Members of the community have always supported us. There’s a multigenerational history of belonging, commitment, and resilience on both sides of the proscenium arch.”

“What’s nerve wracking about running a legacy community theater,” he added, “is that, after 103 years, I just don’t want to be that guy who breaks it.”

Down but not out

One of three picturesque seaside communities situated in the East Bay of Rhode Island, Bristol has no shortage of historical sites, boasts a vibrant downtown district, and is home to America’s Oldest 4th of July Celebration. It is also the home of the Bristol Theatre Company , which was founded in 1983 and has operated out of a 150-seat theater in the old Reynolds School since 2012. The company performed four shows a season, mostly musicals, which complemented the former 2nd Story Theatre in neighboring Warren, which tended to do plays.

But on the heels of their sold out 2020 production of “Frozen, Jr.,” the Reynolds auditorium was taken over by the Town of Bristol and the company was unceremoniously evicted. And so, the local theater is homeless and, according to Ethan Hartley at EastBayRI.com , has been “languishing in limbo” ever since.

Bristol Theatre Company has still managed to produce the occasional show in Portsmouth, staged “A Christmas Carol” in Warren, and recently attempted a partnership with the Arts Alive! program in Barrington to share 2nd Story Theatre’s former space. Also, an offer to share resources and the Academy Players stage in Johnston has been extended, because that is what community theaters do.

“There’s a very special bond among community playhouses across this small state, even though the world of theater is crazy competitive,” said Rita A. Maron, Academy Players’ artistic director. “We all have the same mission, the same beliefs in the power of creativity, and we share many of the same people behind and on the stage. We are our own best support system.”

But all this takes the Bristol Theatre Company out of Bristol. “Throughout all this constant starting over, which is exhausting, we’ve always been able to trust the local audience,” said Marie Knapman, the board chair for the Bristol Theater Company. “They’ve always found us. And they will again.” Because that is what communities do.

Up next: “Christmas Cabaret,” a fundraiser performed at Linden Place in Bristol from Dec. 19-22.