What is now known as “community theatre” emerged during the Little Theater Movement between 1912 and 1925, when small, volunteer-based theater groups emerged in the United States and produced plays that placed a strong emphasis on community participation rather than commercial success. These early troupes performed in found spaces such as churches, halls, or barns and worked with small budgets, limited production values, and short-term gigs. They still do it.

“Before ‘theatre’, the word ‘community’ always had something to do with something less. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” said Rona Mann, local theater critic and WBLQ radio show host in Westerly, RI. “There is nothing more rewarding than a sense of community in our arts and entertainment.”

“Community theater inspires passion and provides opportunity for young people to become artists shaping the future of the art form. “And they create audiences for professional theater,” said Howard Sherman, former executive director of the American Theater Wing, a New York-based nonprofit organization. “We need to thank them.”

Today, there are more community theaters (6,000 in the United States and its territories) that feature more participants (more than 1.5 million volunteers), present more performances of more productions (more than 46,000 productions annually), according to the American Community Theater Association. There are more than . ) and plays to more people (over 86 million annually) than any other performing arts in the country.

Rhode Island has a strong community theater scene consisting of approximately 60 groups. Each one has an interesting story to tell.

Here are three.

At the highest point in downtown Westerly stands a carefully restored Greek Revival Church built in the 1840s. The building was home to the Broad Street Christian Church and, until recently, was also home to The Colonial Theatre, a professional company that still presents free outdoor Shakespeare on summer evenings in historic Wilcox Park.

The doors of the church were opened in 2000. Granite TheaterThe 140-seat community theater offers a year-round lineup of seven shows.

The change came in 2023 when the 11-member board hired Nicole DiMattei as the theatre’s Artistic Director.

DiMattei, a recent transfer from New York City, has staged, produced, directed, choreographed and written professional for-profit theater productions for the better part of 20 years.

DiMattei’s tenure began with the show season he inherited from the previous administration. They included Tom Griffin’s “The Boys Next Door,” a comedy about the lives of four neurodiverse men living in a group home in Boston. The play was written in 1986 and has since been noted for its outdated understanding of these characters’ situations and the now inappropriate use of language to refer to them.

DiMattei explained his directorial approach to this work in the program notes: “I wanted to make sure we took every precaution to tell this story in a way that would move us forward in the way we talk about this complex subject (and) for all of us. To take at least one step in the right direction at the Granite Theater.” This involved having the cast, crew, and front crew be made up of neurodivergent and neurotypical people.

It has also brought greater professionalism to the audition and rehearsal process, which has increased the number of quality local artists attending shows.

A more eclectic season of shows is now on offer.

“Nicole was an absolute breath of joy and fresh air,” longtime arts and culture critic Nancy Burns-Fusaro said in a phone interview. “He is smart, talented and has a wonderful, welcoming style that captivates the community.”

Next up: “1940s Radio Hour,” November 29 – December 15

Community Players‘s first performance was the melodrama “Milestones” in 1921 at the Old Star Theatre, a former Masonic Temple on Pawtucket’s Main Street. Launched only a year ago, the Pawtucket Times noted that the production “conclusively proves the value of the amateur theater organization in the social life of our community.”

This show was a turning point in itself, as The Community Players produced nearly 400 plays over the next 103 years and counting. It even outlived the Pawtucket Times.

Although the company has found a place in the heart of the community and has made significant contributions to the cultural base of Pawtucket and the Blackstone Valley region, there has been difficulty finding a consistent and affordable location to operate; This is a common problem for non-profit organizations. Yet The Company Players has never failed to deliver a season’s worth of programming or attract a loyal audience. That is, until the theater was closed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a sobering up report According to a statement from Theater Communications Group, the theater industry’s post-pandemic recovery is precarious at best; Revenues from ticket sales and subscriptions are 55 percent lower than before the pandemic.

Layoffs are not a problem for community theaters because their employees, cast and leaders are volunteers. When your theater has been part of the local community ecosystem for over a century, the theatergoer’s investment and institutional loyalty are neither. While subscription sales for Community Players are down, individual ticket sales are not.

“When you operate in the same community for so long and often in different parts of Pawtucket, loyalty has never been an issue,” said Christopher Margadonna, president of the Community Players board of directors. “Members of the community have always supported us. There is a generation-long history of belonging, commitment and resilience on both sides of the proscenium arch.”

“The frustrating thing about running an old community theater is that, 103 years later, I don’t want to be that guy who breaks it up.”

Next up: “Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella,” November 8 – 17

One of three beautiful beach communities in Rhode Island’s East Bay, Bristol has no shortage of historic landmarks, a vibrant downtown district, and is home to America’s Oldest Fourth of July Celebration. Also the host Bristol Theater SocietyFounded in 1983 and operating since 2012 in a 150-seat theater in the former Reynolds School, the company has performed four shows, mostly musicals, in one season, complementing the former 2nd Story Theater in neighboring Warren. is playing.

But after the 2020 production of “Frozen Jr.” sold out, the Reynolds auditorium was taken over by the City of Bristol and the company was unceremoniously evicted. And so the local theater was left homeless, and according to Ethan Hartley EastBayRI.comit has “languished in obscurity” ever since.

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

“Although the theater world is wildly competitive, there is a very special bond between community theaters in this small state,” said Rita A. Maron, artistic director of the Academy Players. “We all have the same mission, the same beliefs in the power of creativity, and share many of the same people behind the scenes and on stage. “We are our own best support system.”

But all this takes Bristol Theater Company outside of Bristol. “Despite all these constant reboots, which are tiring, we have always been able to rely on local audiences,” said Marie Knapman, executive director of Bristol Theater Company. “They always found us. And they will do it again. Because that’s what societies do.

Next up: the fundraiser “Christmas Cabaret”, which runs from December 19th to 22nd at Linden Place in Bristol.

Bob Abelman is an award-winning theater critic who previously wrote for the Austin Chronicle. connect with him on Facebook.