Portsmouth Native Ed Shea Finds Success in Second Story

In Act II, scene 2 of Hamlet, the forlorn Prince of Denmark tells Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, “I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space.”

He is talking about the power and scope of imagination and the mind’s ability to transcend the physical boundaries of existence. It’s a healthy way of looking at things, especially when you return home from college to learn that your villainous uncle has murdered dad and bedded mom. However, you don’t have to be an aggrieved prince to benefit from the concept.

At times, East Bay residents might feel as if they’re living in their very own nutshell, but thanks to the creative mind of 2nd Story Theatre artistic director Ed Shea, the infinite realities of Western drama’s greatest minds are only a few miles away.

Growing up in Portsmouth, Ed Shea spent a lot of time in the public library perusing the shelves in search of great plays. He attests that he was always interested in drama, but it wasn’t until early high school that he discovered his talent as an actor, thanks in large part to then theater instructor, Bob Velecca.

“He recognized something inside of me,” said Shea. “I understood theater better than anything else I was being taught.”

For his very first role, Shea was awarded the part of Henry David Thoreau in the play The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail. It was an enormous task for a first-timer given that the character spoke nearly every other line. But Shea was ready for his instructor’s challenge. From that performance on, he didn’t look back. Eventually, he would become a teacher and director, but not before developing his skills as an actor off-Broadway and a twelve year stint at the Trinity Repertory Company.

After graduating high school, Shea moved to Newport and bussed tables in hopes of saving enough money for a run at Broadway. Before getting there, he met a group of impassioned actors like himself. They decided to start their own theater company. It was 1978 and at the time there were five theaters in Newport. Shea opened 2nd Story Theatre above a restaurant on Long Wharf. In doing so, Shea provided himself with his own education. He learned how to attract and build an audience. It was extremely difficult and mostly based off of trial and error. But according to Shea, that was the necessary recipe for quality theater.

“Art should be risky,” said Shea. “Risk is to art what yeast is to bread.”

His acting skills were steadily rising, but getting people to attend local theater productions was another thing. Back then, the majority of Rhode Islanders didn’t place as much value on homegrown art or culture; it was somehow worth less than something produced in New York City. It was perhaps part of Rhode Island’s geographical inferiority complex. Growing up with an Irish Catholic background, Shea understood that type of self-deprecation, but it didn’t make filling seats any easier. The fact that the theater wasn’t even in Providence, made marketing all the more difficult.

“Rhode Islanders were Provi-centric then,” Shea joked. “If they had to drive over two bridges it wasn’t worth going to.”

Shea ran his 2nd Story Theater in Newport for five successful years, quite an achievement for a recent high school graduate performing Moliere in an environment where the only thing French were the fries being served in the touristy restaurant downstairs.

Burned out on the Newport scene, Shea closed the theater’s doors in search of the next step. He performed off-Broadway. He joined the Trinity Rep’s acting team. He attended Brown University’s Rue program. Finally, after traveling to Europe, Shea realized some 15 years later that he wanted to run his own theater company again.

Thomas Wolfe wasn’t necessarily right. Sometimes you can go home again, especially when you live in an infinite nutshell.

In the spring of 2000, Shea moved to Warren and opened  contests that Warren is the perfect place for the dramatics of theater.

“I sometimes call it Mayberry LSD," he said. "It’s a unique place with lots of personality. It’s the kind of town where a bunch of crazy actors fit right in.”

This time around, Shea is directing. He has also reunited with some of the people he had worked with in Newport. Shea has applied those old experiences to the new 2nd Story and once again, its success is defying all odds. Shea strikes a brilliant balance between art and pragmatism in selecting what plays to run. He realizes that both he and the audience must be engaged and interested.

Shea’s secret is laughter. As he points out, people love to laugh. Doctors claim it’s good for the body. However, Shea doesn’t just go for the quick and easy laughs. He strives for the kind of humor that makes us think, the kind in which truth rears its hilarious face, or as author George Saunders puts it, “Humor is what happens when we're told the truth more quickly than we're used to.”

Shea and Warren are a match made in heaven. It’s hard imagining the town without 2nd Story. Filling seats will always be somewhat of a challenge, especially now in the hi-def, cyber age, but as Shea notes, theater has been dying for decades. George S. Kaufman called it the “fabulous invalid.” Yet somehow, men like Shea always find a way of keeping it alive, but not just for the sake of doing so. They always find ways of making the public realize its importance.

2nd Story Theatre is a non-profit, but the bulk of its revenue still comes from ticket sales as people from all over the state drive over numerous bridges to get there. Shea says that people who still haven’t been to a 2nd Story production are always telling him that they’ve been meaning to go, but for one reason or another haven’t got around to it.

“I tell them to hurry up," he said. "They’re going to be dead soon.”

Theater will be around long after any of us are gone. It will outlast iPods and flat screens. It’s the benefit of living in the infinite space of our collective imaginations. That said, don’t wait an eternity before seeing Ed Shea’s next production at 2nd Story Theatre.