A diamond night Hockamock Players bring varied backgrounds to appreciative audience at Swans Island playhouse

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It was what some locals call a “diamond day” on Swans Island – when the wind ripples the surface of the water and the sun makes it sparkle like diamonds.

Last Friday was the kind of day that makes you want to skip out early on work to go fly a kite or drop everything to take a walk on the beach. But Gene Jellison had other things on his mind.

Armed with duct tape and a giant sheet of black plastic, the 75-year-old director and his son Paul waged a battle against the late afternoon light. With Paul perched atop a ladder and Gene on the ground, the duo covered as many of the tall, west-facing windows of the Odd Fellows Hall as the plastic would allow.

In a few hours, the second floor of the rambling old building would become the island’s playhouse, and the Jellisons were intent on blocking out the setting sun. Neat rows of theater seats, office chairs and a few pews sat empty on the worn hardwood floor, facing a stage of walnut-stained plywood. A bright-orange extension cord was coiled around a pipe on the pressed-tin ceiling, bringing power to a line of clamped-on spotlights.

Backstage, shirts and ties hung from nails, and shoes sat under chairs, waiting for feet. The rough wooden walls told the theater’s history in permanent marker – signatures of previous actors, graffiti about who loves whom, inside jokes.

Soon, the shoes would be filled by members of the Hockamock Players, a theater group that Jellison formed when he retired to the island where he was born. Though actors come and go, the cast is as varied as the island itself. For this night’s performance, “The Curious Savage,” a former postmaster shared the stage with a young lobsterman, a couple from New York, two college students and a schoolteacher from Skowhegan, to name a few. Some had never acted before. Some were veterans from April’s production of “12 Angry People,” an adaptation of Reginald Rose’s “12 Angry Men.”

“We’re trying to do a variety of shows that offer good acting opportunities for the people involved,” Jellison said during an interview at the troupe’s rehearsal hall earlier in the day.

Though the Hockamock Players is strictly an amateur group, Jellison takes it very seriously. When scheduling conflicts at the Odd Fellows Hall cut into rehearsal time, he built the rehearsal space, complete with a raised “stage” and prop room, on his property. For Jellison, it was a natural solution.

He’s been involved in nearly every aspect of the theater since 1934, when he saw his mother act for the first time. He acted in high school in Thomaston, studied drama at Colby College in Waterville and eventually ran the drama program there. He received an assistantship at UCLA and earned his master’s degree in theater. He stayed in California for 30 years, teaching English and theater at Santa Monica High School. When he and his wife, Carolyn, returned to Maine, they got involved in school and community theater in the Machias area. But things didn’t go as they had planned, so they decided to move back to Swans Island year round.

“We decided we weren’t doing too well in Machias and we had a place here,” Jellison said. “I thought, what the heck, let’s do it on the island.”

Though there had been plays on the island before, this was the first real organized effort.

“We did plays before Gene came back, but it was on and off, self-produced and self-directed,” said Dexter Lee, a selectman and Hockamock veteran.

The group’s inaugural performance was “I Have Seen Myself Before,” written by Virgil Geddes, a Swans Island summer resident, theater critic and playwright. It was, by all accounts, an unusual play. They returned to the stage two summers later with a production of “Arsenic and Old Lace,” and they haven’t looked back. All of the proceeds from the performances benefit the restoration of the Odd Fellows Hall and the island library.

“We did ‘Arsenic and Old Lace,’ and did very well, and we’ve been doing a play a year since,” Jellison said.

Working with a cast of local actors was a bit of a challenge for Jellison, who has made theater his life. For many of the islanders, acting wasn’t a priority – it came second to their jobs or their families.

“They don’t think of it as theater; they think of it as a play,” Jellison said. “[I think of it] as theater. I love it, the art of it, and I’ve had to adjust and make compromises.”

As the summers went by, the theater grew. In 1999, the group expanded its offerings to two plays and last summer they staged four plays. This season, they have already put on two performances and hope to stage “Cliffhanger” in August. In time, Jellison found a core group of islanders who were serious about acting, and he also found people who wanted to dabble in theater.

We’re not doing this as something to do for a while,” Jellison said. “We want it to be something that lasts.”

Former postmaster Betty Carlson, 72, is one of the core actors that keeps the group going. Sitting in her living room a few hours before the play, she couldn’t say enough about Jellison.

“Since Gene retired and came then we’ve had real direction,” she said, smiling. “He’s the greatest as far as I’m concerned. He’s the one who makes all the productions so great.”

Carlson has played the lead in several Hockamock productions, including this performance of “The Curious Savage.” But the mix of experienced and inexperienced actors doesn’t detract from the performance, Carlson said.

“There were people there who had never acted before but it always ends up being cast very well,” she said.

And while the audience isn’t there to see professional theater, they do appreciate the islanders’ talent.

“There should be a very good attendance because we do have a reputation,” Carlson said.

It’s true. On Friday, nearly everyone was talking about the evening’s performance. At the Island Bake House, lunch waitress Holly Grubbs said she wouldn’t be working the dinner shift because she had a part in the play. Jeannie Joyce, who owns the island’s only bed and breakfast, had a few errands to run before the show. At Seaside Hall, home of the Swans Island Educational Society, volunteer Betsy Pickup was looking forward to seeing “The Curious Savage.”

“They have a great group of players,” said Pickup, a Boca Raton, Fla., resident who’s been summering on Swans Island for 20 years. “The islanders are just fabulous actors. They put on wonderful performances.”

As it got closer to showtime, the actors worked backstage, rehearsing their lines and fixing their makeup. Lobsterman Carroll Staples, who started his day at 4 a.m., was just waking up again.

“I took a wee bit of a nap,” he said. “I’m dead if I don’t try to get a little rest.”

Marsha Douty, who recently arrived for the summer from New York, was looking forward to being on stage for the first time. She and her husband, Robert, who also had a role, had seen Hockamock plays before, but never acted in one.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Marsha Douty said. “The community seems to really look forward to it. [The plays] come off very well and the island is very supportive.”

“And forgiving,” veteran actor Bob Horton chimed in.

On the other side of the stage, Carlson was getting ready for her debut as the benevolent Evelyn Savage. Somewhere between her living room and the Odd Fellows Hall, her hair had turned blue.

“One thing I forgot to mention was the support we get from our families,” Carlson said and broke into a smile that lit up her whole face. “My husband, he’s very supportive, even when I dye my hair blue.”

Gene Jellison’s wife, Carolyn, who played the greedy Lily Belle Savage, paced around in the background.

“How’s my makeup?” she asks. “I get so nervous before these things.”

There was no need to be nervous. After the curtain parted, the Hockamock Players kept the audience entertained for nearly three hours. The nearly packed house laughed and cheered as Carlson’s Ethel Savage outwitted her avaricious stepchildren.

“I think it’s fun,” Ben Milner said during one of two intermissions. Milner lives in Annapolis, Md., but has a summer home on Swans Island and has seen several Hockamock plays. “There’s not a lot of entertainment [here]. People come because it’s something to do that involves the whole community.”

After the play, the crowd spilled out onto the street and the light from the Odd Fellows Hall shone on the cars as they drove away. Farther away from the hall, the night turned inky and dark – black like it doesn’t get on the mainland. The Milky Way made a cloudy band across the middle of the sky, and the stars twinkled like a million tiny gems cast up into the air.

It was a diamond night.

Though the schedule is subject to change, the Hockamock Players plan to stage “Cliffhanger” at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 17 and 18. For information or seating reservations, call Gene Jellison at 526-4332 (the closer it is to the performance date, the more likely it will be that Jellison will have a set schedule. If you plan to travel to Swans Island, there are two places to stay: Jeannie’s Place and the Harbor Watch Hotel. Jeannie’s Place is a bed and breakfast with three guestrooms and a cottage that rents by the week. It can be reached at 526-4116. The Harbor Watch offers motel-style accommodations with some kitchenettes. It can be reached at (800) 532-7928 or 526-4563. A state ferry leaving from Bass Harbor transports cars and people to Swans Island. Car reservations fill quickly, especially on the weekends, so if you plan to take a car over, be sure to reserve a space both on the way there and on the way back. The ferry service can be reached at 244-3254.