Opera pros, Chebeague Island residents hit the high ‘C’s’
Tyler Putnam performs during a dress rehearsal for “Pirates of Penzance” at Chebeague Island Hall on Aug. 6. Putnam and Sarah Nordin brought together other professional singers and amateur island residents for the performance. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)
When asked what led him to be sitting in the Chebeague Island Hall Community Center in leather boots, an 18th century-style shirt and a bandana around his head — moments away from leaping up to sing, dance and sword fight — Erno Bonebakker, 84, had a simple answer.
“Because we’re pirates.”
On Chebeague Island, performing the nautical comedic opera “The Pirates of Penzance” resonates with its seafaring residents. Life on the Casco Bay island, with a winter population of 400, accessibility only by ferry or personal boat, and the recent loss of its only all-season store, can require a swashbuckling and perseverant attitude.
“Plus it’s an excuse to say ‘aaargh,'” said islander Pete Pellerin, 58, wearing a two-cornered hat adorned with a skull and crossbones before the final dress rehearsal on Aug. 6.
This summer, both members of the island community and professional opera singers came together to put on a production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s pirate opera. The show is run by married professional opera singers Sarah Nordin and Tyler Putnam, who is himself a local.
Sarah Nordin, left of center, and Delaney Geiser, right of center, help professional soprano Kristina Terwilliger, center, with her costume before a dress rehearsal for “Pirates of Penzance” at Chebeague Island Hall on Aug. 6. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)
Putnam grew up on Chebeague Island and was interested in theater from an early age (working in theater rehearsals around the ferry schedule was tricky, he said). After graduating from Greely High School, he went to Dartmouth and studied music and theater, where he met Nordin. The couple and their 8-year-old daughter now live most of the year in New York City as well as traveling the world working for different opera productions.
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Like many with a connection to the island, the family comes back to Chebeague every summer. Over 10 years ago, Putnam and Nordin started putting on small opera performances for the community in the island’s sole church. They started inviting friends from the opera world for singing performances, then abridged versions of classic operas, such as “Carmen” and “La bohème.”
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Last year, Nordin and Putnam took the productions from the church to the community center, which comes with a stage and is also used for the island’s public meetings, summer camps and more. Their performance of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “South Pacific,” which for the first time included a community chorus as well as professional singers, saw full audiences both nights.
This year, they wanted to go bigger.
“We’re sharing what we know and what we can do back with my hometown,” said Putnam, who stars as the Pirate King in the production. “Not just for the audience, but for the participants in the show who get really excited.”
The couple now also produces the children’s summer theater camp on the island, the same one Putnam loved being a part of when he was growing up on Chebeague. Now, their daughter is a camper, forging her own island relationships on stage.
“It’s really nice to have one place that you can count on every year to come back to,” added Nordin.
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Tyler Putnam puts stage makeup on his wife Sarah Nordin before a dress rehearsal for “Pirates of Penzance” at Chebeague Island Hall on Aug. 6. The two have performed in the comic opera many times in their professional singing careers. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)
When selecting the opera for this year, “The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty” was a clear winner, said the couple. Written by Arthur Sullivan and W. S. Gilbert and premiering in 1879, it remained a silly favorite of the opera world. Both Putnam and Nordin have performed in the show many times, it’s in the public domain, and they thought the subject matter would resonate with the islanders.
“We’re already in a place where everybody has to take boats. It’s a very seafaring kind of island,” said Nordin, who plays the elderly maid Ruth. “This kind of show lends itself to changing some of the lyrics of dialogues for the audience you have.”
With local references sprinkled in about Casco Bay Lines and water taxis, the Chebeague production encourages the audience not just to celebrate their fellow islanders on stage, but those in the audience as well. The three shows on Aug. 7-9 were free to the public and first come, first serve.
The shows are supported by the MacBeth Concert Series, a local nonprofit that brings musical performances to the island that’s funded by audience donations. Since most of the financial support from the MacBeth Concert Series went toward paying the professional cast members, to dress the cast of two dozen in pirate garb and Victorian-inspired bustled dresses, Nordin, who is also the show’s costumer, turned towards the island’s resourcefulness.
Kristina Terwilliger, center, runs a scene with cast members including Major-General Stanley’s daughters, many of whom were cast locally, during a dress rehearsal for “Pirates of Penzance” at Chebeague Island Hall on Aug. 6. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)
She posted on the local Facebook group asking to borrow specific items and what she couldn’t find she either sewed from fabric she found in the island’s thrift shop or borrowed from nearby theater companies.
“It’s like the whole community sort of comes together and helps me out with that,” said Nordin.
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“You can do a lot with old sheets,” added Putnam.
The professional opera singers took the ferry to Chebeague two weeks prior to opening night, quickly learning both their parts and the island way of life.
“It’s a very different experience than usual,” said Max Alexander Cook, a freelance professional opera singer from Virginia.
Having worked with opera productions of all sizes, Cook said he’s been impressed with the creativity that’s gone into this show.
“Through the tenacity of the community, they make it work,” he said.
Elaborately costumed, the 20 community members in the chorus, ages 16 to 84, all sing, act and perform sword and fan choreography in the show alongside the professional opera singers.
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Johnny Tyler gets into his police officer costume in the outdoor changing area during a dress rehearsal for “Pirates of Penzance” on Aug. 6. Tyler lives in Amsterdam, but his family has had a house on Chebeague for years. He said he came to watch a dress rehearsal because his brother David Tyler is in the musical and next thing he knew, he was cast. “They said they needed tenors,” Tyler said with a laugh. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)
“It’s really cool to be learning from these professionals. They hold you to a standard,” said islander Adia Ameswright, 19. “Being able to have this level of talent on the island is so special.”
Kathy Kuntz, 69, lives on the island year-round. Like several of the older chorus members, it’s her first time ever performing on stage. She’s playing one of the many matching “sisters” of all ages.
“I wanted to try it,” said Kuntz, in her ruffled blue Victorian dress. “And I love it.”
For others, theater has always been part of summer on Chebeague.
Ameswright grew up on the island and is now a student at the University of Southern Maine. Like so many others raised on the island, she grew up participating in the kids theater camps and going to weekly band concerts at the Slow Bell Cafe.
Whether it’s the theater connection or decades of life by the sea, the ballads of a pirate opera resonates across the island, she said.
“This is kind of what Chebeague stands for, in a way. Community and access to live music, and love, and stories — whoever you are,” said Ameswright.
Tyler Putnam, center, surrounded by his cast during a dress rehearsal for “Pirates of Penzance” at Chebeague Island Hall on Aug. 6. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)
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Tagged: chebeague island maine, music and performance, opera
Sophie is a community reporter for Cumberland, Yarmouth, North Yarmouth and Falmouth and previously reported for the Forecaster. Her memories of briefly living on Mount Desert Island as a child drew her. More by Sophie Burchell
