North Haven, Vinalhaven and Deer Isle are three very different islands with a wonderful common feature. All three have new theaters and drama programs that are flourishing.
North Haven recently dedicated the Islands Theater, with 150 seats, to director John Wulp during performances of Little Women this summer. Vinalhaven, with its new Smith Hokanson Memorial Hall, has approximately 350 seats and a blossoming theater and dance program under the auspices of Karen Burns. The new Deer Isle-Stonington elementary school tops them all in size with its 450-seat Reach Performing Arts Center, where director Nelson Montieth has been working for about four years.
With three new theaters so close to one another, Holley Meade of the Seamark Community Arts Center contacted me earlier this fall in an effort to begin again the tradition of traveling among the islands for theater and social events. Such trips occurred quite often during the height of the granite industry, when people would travel by steamer for dances and shows. With assistance from the Island Institute’s Island Community Fund, the drama exchange Holley proposed became a reality.
Our plans to travel for the Nov. 5 performance of Antigone at the Deer Isle-Stonington School were nearly lost when bad weather (rough seas and winds 25-30 miles an hour) made passage on the Isle au Haut mailboat out of the question. Most of the students involved agreed to make the trip by ferry and road instead, turning what would have been a 45-minute boat crossing into a three-hour trip.