Ocean State Theatre Company to Conclude Role as Producer at Theatre By The Sea

Ocean State Theatre Company, Inc., the not-for-profit producing entity currently celebrating its Fifth Anniversary Season at Theatre By The Sea and Bill Hanney, owner of Theatre By The Sea, announced today that Ocean State Theatre Company will conclude its role as the producing entity at the end of the current season.

“Based on my recent experience as owner and producer at North Shore Music Theatre and my desire to share productions between the two venues, I have decided to take on the responsibility for productions at Theatre By The Sea,” said Hanney, who has operated both the Bistro by the Sea and the cabaret for the past five years. “I want to thank Ocean State Theatre Company for their commitment over the past five years in bringing live theatre back to the Theatre By The Sea stage and wish them great success with their new venture in Warwick.”

“We are so proud to have helped reopen this historic treasure, but also, admittedly, disappointed to leave,” said Amiee Turner, Producing Artistic Director and President of Ocean State Theatre Company. “Our goal was always to ensure the future of Theatre By The Sea and we are very glad that it will continue. We wish nothing but many successful seasons for years to come.”

An announcement of Bill Hanney’s 2013 Musical Season at Theatre By The Sea is expected in the coming weeks. Turner confirmed current subscriber information will be passed on to the new producers. Subscriptions for the inaugural season at Ocean State Theatre Company’s new Warwick facility, located at 1245 Jefferson Boulevard, are currently available at OceanStateTheatre.org or by calling (401) 782-TKTS (8587).

Theatre By The Sea has had many incarnations over the years. Tommy Brent saved the theater from demolition in 1967 and ran it successfully until FourQuest Entertainment took over the lease in 1988. Following extensive renovations that fall and winter, FourQuest reopened the theater in the spring of 1989 and continued producing summer theatre at the seaside playhouse until the fall of 2003. Hanney purchased the property in 2007 simultaneously with the formation of Ocean State Theatre Company, Inc, who successfully mounted a production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, just six weeks later, reopening the historic theatre on August 8, 2007.

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