Final Hackmatack Playhouse show features longtime Seacoast actors
BERWICK, Maine — Actors who have performed on the Berwick stage for years and decades will join together this summer for the final show at Hackmatack Playhouse, “Smoke on the Mountain.”
“I love being at the peaceful farm for rehearsals and performances,” said Linette Miles of Durham, who performed in 11 shows there over 10 years before the pandemic hit. “The people and the beautiful location are what I will miss the most.”
“I will never forget the first time I performed here in 2013 in 'Les Miserables' - I was cast in the featured ensemble and was always treated with so much respect and love,” said Emily Zentis, who plays a part in the show and is musical director.
A musical with a strong passion for community, “Smoke on the Mountain” provides the perfect story for a season that ends 50 years of actors, musicians, directors and costume designers working together to create art and community in the barn in a field in Maine.
“I love this show for its blue grass music and rural North Carolina setting,” said Michael Guptill, who runs the theater started by his father, Carleton Guptill in 1972. “But what I love best is the way it speaks to the love and life of a small community.”
For most of the hundreds of people who have been involved in Hackmatack over the years, it is the farm, fields and family atmosphere as much as theatrical experience that makes performing there special.
“The people involved, from the owner Michael Guptill to every artistic director he has hired are just genuine, down to earth people,” Miles said. “They are there for the love of theater and Michael has a gift for bringing together the best people.”
In fact, Miles was motivated to return for this show in large part because she would be joining again with director Jeff Seabaugh, who also directed her first show at Hackmatack, “All Shook Up” in 2007.
“Now,” she said, “I'm falling in love with the characters, and the bluegrass music is great!”
Seabaugh, who first came to Hackmatack in 1987, was drawn to the show because it reminded him of his own roots in the south.
The story revolves around the Sanders Family, traveling bluegrass musicians in 1938. The family makes a stop on a Saturday night for a Gospel concert at a church in the hills of North Carolina.
Each cast member also must play a musical instrument, an extra challenge for the show.
“Every single person that works on shows here gives all of their passion and energy into everything they do,” said Zentis, whose husband Jacob Zentis of Nashua is also in the show. Jacob, in fact, proposed to Emily during the curtain call of an August 2013 performance of "Les Miserables," Emily’s first show at Hackmatack.
“I will miss the magic that lies within the walls of this special barn the most,” Emily said. “There is nothing like looking out across that audience and feeling the energy exchange between performers and audience.”
“Smoke on the Mountain,” the only show at Hackmatack for the theater’s 50th anniversary season, will run Jul 29 to Aug. 20, with shows Wednesday through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and matinees at 2 p.m. on Thursdays, with a special matinee on Wednesday, Aug. 3. More information and tickets are available by calling 207-698-1807 or at www.hackmatack.org.
This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: Final Hackmatack Playhouse show to open in Berwick, Maine this weekend
