Theatre By The Sea has had many incarnations over the years. In the beginning, between 1928 and 1933, Mrs. Alice Jaynes Tyler ran a camp for girls on the property of her summer home. With the Depression quickly limiting the market for summer camps, she decided to instead create jobs by turning the old shingled barn into a theatre. She teamed up with Russian defector and actor Leo Bulgakoff, the cockney producer, Leslie Spiller and famed lighting designer Abe Feder – and on August 7, 1933 Mrs. Jaynes’ 300 seat barn theatre came to life.

The next five years brought numerous partner change, but the stayed under the watchful eye of Mrs. Tyler who continued to run the Inn. On September 2, 1938, a hurricane caused extensive damage; the roof was blown off and the back wall collapsed. That damage, led fortuitously to the first “renovation.” After carefully cutting the theatre in half with a hand saw, the box office was literally pulled forward by a dump truck, and a new section of theatre and a balcony were added!

By 1941, with the war raging and gas rationing in place, the theatre went dark for a few years, but then sporadically played as a movie house. By 1947 Theatre By The Sea was again in full swing and entered into a long and fruitful stretch that kept theatre alive for many star-filled summers in Matunuck. Having succeeded through many different producers, the hardships of the passing of Mrs. Tyler in 1951, another hurricane in 1954 and a single “dark” summer in 1959, it seemed as though the theatre’s life was at an end when it went dark once again in 1963.

In 1967, upon hearing that the theatre was to be destroyed, Tommy Brent, former Press Agent and Producer saved the theater from demolition by mere hours. Mr. Brent began a brand new tradition and future for the fabled theatre by completely producing shows on site – sets, costumes, everything. He was able to run the theatre to enormous success for 22 years.

The multi-faceted entertainment company, FourQuest took over the lease in 1988. Following extensive renovations that fall and winter, FourQuest re-opened the theater in the spring of 1989 and continued producing the highest quality summer theater in Matunuck until the fall of 2003. The theatre went dark once again until Mr. Hanney made his significant commitment to continue the tradition of theatre at this historic Rhode Island landmark.