This is the third article in a series about community theaters located throughout Rhode Island.
“Our folks are up against it, and up against it good,” says actor Mickey Rooney as Mickey Moran, in the 1939 film Babes in Arms. He’s the teenaged son of vaudevillian performers whose careers have tanked after the advent of talking pictures. “There’s a frame-up in this town to get the actors and their kids out of it. Our houses are mortgaged and unless the payments are up to date by July 1, well, out we go.” As a throng of fellow Depression-era children of actors gather around, Mickey shares his swell plan to save the day with his best girl Patsy Barton, played by Judy Garland: “I’m gonna write a show for us and put it on right here.” He then utters the words that would go on to become the mantra for community theaters around the country and across generations with similarly high apple-pie-in-the-sky aspirations, like the Contemporary Theater Company in Wakefield: “How about it kids! Let’s put on a show.”
In 2005, when Kingston, RI native Chris Simpson was in college, he and some friends decided to put on a show at the Courthouse Center for the Arts in West Kingston. They had so much fun that they decided to reconvene each subsequent summer to continue the tradition, calling their enterprise the Courthouse Theater Company. In 2009, Simpson and Stephen Fox – a fellow Princeton grad and current Executive Director of the company – turned the summer theater into a year-round enterprise with eight full-length productions. The troupe, re-named the Contemporary Theater Company (CTC), remained nomadic for the next several years until it landed in its current home on Main Street in 2012, in the heart of Wakefield’s downtown district. Intent on restoring the once vibrant live theater scene of southern Rhode Island, it quickly transformed the former Hera Gallery – a small, non-profit artist cooperative which moved a few blocks away – into a fully functioning 100-seat auditorium with a multi-level stage and cozy lobby. That year, RI Monthly presented the CTC with its “Best of Rhode Island” award for artistic revitalization.
Simpson became Mickey Rooney on steroids when the company purchased the theater in 2018 and, later, the building behind it, which was transformed into a rehearsal studio, costume and prop storage space, and out-of-town artist residence. The venue now houses a full season of scripted productions, full-length improvised plays, the week-long Ocean State Improv Festival, the Wakefield Idol singing competition, and the annual 24-Hour Play Festival. The company’s Shakespeare on the Saugatucket summer shows, live music events, and the Oktoberfest community festival take place on an outdoor performance patio. In 2024, the CTC produced its first Renaissance Faire. “The CTC stands out among area community theaters with its broad and dynamic approach to engaging audiences,” says Maggie Cady, who joined the staff in 2012 and became its General Manager (and occasional director, lighting designer, and host of Wakefield Idol). And its efforts have been well recognized, with the company earning numerous Motif Awards over the years. “This small and growing community playhouse is transforming itself into a cultural beehive in downtown Wakefield,” suggests Bill Seymour, who covers the CTC for the local newspaper, The Independent.
The company is also actively engaged in community enrichment. Activities now include summer camps for youth and year-round classes for adults, as well as collaborations with local schools like South Kingstown High School and The Middlebridge School. “All this helps foster the next generation of artists,” notes Cady. Soon after Babes in Arms hit the movie theaters, Rooney and Garland went on to do a series of other “How about it kids! Let’s put on a show” musicals titled Strike Up the Band and Babes on Broadway. Just imagine what the kindred spirits at the Contemporary Theater Company have in store for the future. •
Next up, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged [revised] [again], May 2 – 24
Bob Abelman is an award-winning theater critic who also writes for The Boston Globe. Connect with him on Facebook.
