This is the seventh in a series about community theaters located throughout and adjacent to Rhode Island.
The West Bay Community Theater, North Kingstown, RI
“Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach. Those who can’t do or teach, criticize.” So said disgruntled fantasy fiction author Marsha Hinds, riffing on the famous quote by George Bernard Shaw in his 1905 stage play Man and Superman.
The thing is, before becoming a world-renowned playwright, Shaw was the drama critic for London’s Saturday Review. And before becoming a founder and board president of the West Bay Community Theater (WBCT), Terry Shea was a theater critic for Motif for nearly a decade. Clearly, there are those who criticize, who can also do, and do so very well. It can even be argued that one skill set significantly contributes to the other.
“If nothing else,” admits Shea, “I have learned what audiences don’t like, and I won’t do that.”
The WBCT was founded in 2018 to fill a gap in the East Greenwich-North Kingstown theater scene that was created when the North Kingstown Players folded and the Academy Players moved to Providence. And it was founded on a high note: The strong likelihood of taking up residency in the historic Old Library building in the village of Wickford and staging a full season of productions. When that fell through, the North Kingstown Town Hall Annex – which could be converted into a flexible black box space capable of seating approximately 75 people – was strongly considered before construction costs, delays, and the pandemic put the kibosh on the project.
And so, the WBCT found itself in the same position as too many other community theaters across the country: Homeless and reliant on found spaces and the assistance of colleagues to perform their craft. With that comes the need to find a form of theater that is not only of interest to local patrons and has a place in the artistic ecosystem of the area, but is also conducive to the company’s circumstances.
Shea and his fellow board members tapped their collective experiences under, behind, and in front of the proscenium arch and found themselves staging in-concert versions of popular musicals at the North Kingstown Town Beach Band Shell. To date, they performed Hair in 2022, Cabaret in 2023, and Grease in 2024. They are currently in rehearsal for the upcoming, in-concert production of Chicago (Saturday, August 16 at 7:30pm).
While watching musical theater from the vantage point of a critic’s aisle seat, Shea long ago learned that “the biggest draw is, in fact, the music.” In-concert musicals are theatrical productions that focus on live orchestration and vocal performances, with minimal staging, few costumes, and no sets. “We have no place to build or store a set,” says Shea. Because of this, as well as the cost of renting the rights to a musical, productions are one-night only.
With that said, Shea and his colleagues know that they still need to put on a good show, so their productions include several giant LCD screens that project live three-camera video of the performance as well as pre-recorded content, coupled with impressive sound design.
“We now have a reputation for performing this type of musical theater and staging it like a Tanglewood-meets-rock concert. Our last production attracted over 400 people.” And because of this reputation, there has been no problem attracting local talent to be in these classic shows and play these iconic roles.
The dream of moving indoors and staging a threeshow season of traditional productions is still alive for the WBCT brain trust, and next year will be a first step toward this goal. The company will be staging Godspell in partnership with St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Wickford, and will be performing in its parish hall. In line with what is now their signature style, this WBCT production will be stripped down and performed for one night only, the night before Palm Sunday (March 28, 2026).
In his film Annie Hall, Woody Allen noted that “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach. And those who can’t teach, teach gym.” Perhaps the WBCT will consider staging an in-concert version of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee or Rocky The Musical for its next summer production.
Bob Abelman is an award-winning theater critic who also writes for The Boston Globe. Connect with him on Facebook.