"Of Pirates and Poets"

A Visit to the Isles of Shoals
with Celia Thaxter

Written and adapted by
Stephanie Nugent and Sharon Stephan

Featuring the photography of Peter E. Randall
and the music of Ed Gerhard and John Perrault

Celia Laighton Thaxter was born in Portsmouth, NH in 1835. When she was four years old, her father took over the lighthouse on White Island. In 1848, the Laighton family opened Appledore House on Appledore Island which, over the next fifty years, became one of the most popular summer resorts in New England. At sixteen, Celia married Levi Thaxter, son of a wealthy Boston family. Celia and Levi had three sons and eventually settled in Newtonville, MA. Homesickness for the Shoals and her family was the impetus for Celia's first poems which appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in 1861. In a very short time, Celia became quite well known for her poetry and was urged by her friends, particularly John Greenleaf Whittier, to commit to prose the wonderful stories she told of the Shoals. The result was Among the Isles of Shoals, which was published in 1873. Celia's fame drew a large circle of artists, musicians and writers to the Shoals every summer. Her garden, painting, writing, and friends filled the last years of her life. She died in 1894.

Stephanie Voss studied acting at the University of Texas at Austin, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts. She was very fortunate to work with a team of gifted actors, designers, directors, and producers at Theatre by the Sea in Portsmouth, NH and had the pleasure of playing such roles as Lizzie in The Rainmaker, Emilia in Othello, Sonya in Uncle Vanya, and Agnes in The Shadowbox. She is the Executive Director of ACT ONE and lives with her husband Robert Nugent on beautiful Sunset Lake in Hampstead, NH.

Sharon Stephan is a New Hampshire native and an independent scholar whose current projects include a book on Celia Thaxter's visual art and a comprehensive bibliography with information guide on Thaxter's life and work. Presenting various lectures and slide programs nationally, she also collects related books, postcards, stereographs and ephemerals. She lives in Hollis, NH with her husband Bill.

Ralph Morang is owner of Ralph Morang Photography in Portsmouth, NH, providing commercial photography and stock photography of New Hampshire and Maine. He has also directed an independent film, Family Trees. Ralph is a former staff photographer for the Portsmouth Herald and former chief photographer for Rockingham County Newspapers. He is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire.

Photographs by Peter E. Randall have appeared in such publications as U.S. News, National Geographic Traveler, Oceans, and Down East and have been exhibited at Currier Gallery of Art, Thorne-Sagendorf Gallery, and Manchester Institute of Art and Science, and many other galleries in New England. He is the president of the New Hampshire Society of Photographic Artists and still finds time run Peter E. Randall Publisher, which has produced more than 250 books, most of them related to New England history. Peter resides in Hampton, NH with his wife, Judith Davis Randall.

Instrumental guitarist Ed Gerhard first attracted attention with his acclaimed 1987 debut release Night Birds, which was chosen by the Boston Globe Critic's Poll "Top Ten Albums of the Year." Ed has since released six critically acclaimed CDs on Virtue Records along with inclusions on guitar samplers from Windham Hill Records and Narada Records. Ed is a longtime resident of New Hampshire, although he spends much of his time performing throughout the US, Europe, and Japan.

John Perrault has recorded six albums of original material, much of it rooted in New England history and legend. His most recent CD, Rough Cuts, was a Crossroads Music Awards Finalist in the folk category. John's poetry has appeared in numerous publications, including The Christian Science Monitor, Commonweal, and Poet Lore. His Ballad Program is available to libraries and non profits through the New Hampshire Humanities Council. Jeff Landrock owns and operates Landrock Recording Services in Berwick, Maine. Services include compact disc mastering, audio engineering and production, CD/cassette replication, digital editing, and other audio-related services. Jeff can be reached at 207-384-0069 or via www.landrock.com.

Bruce K. Morriss is currently Director of Theatre Operations for The Music Hall in Portsmouth. His design and production credits include regional, industrial and commercial theatre and television projects throughout the United States, including such shows as David Letterman and FOX News, and Broadway productions of King & I, Miss Saigon and others.

Stanley Zabecki, a native of Holyoke, Ma., has been a professional theatre "techie" for over 12 years. Getting his first taste as TD in 1984 at the Coachlight Dinner Theatre, in Windsor CT he has since built, run, lit, painted and trouble-shot over 100 shows. Stan has also designed and created the sets and illusions for the Rocky Horror Show at the Seacoast Repertory Theatre in Portsmouth, NH.

Elizabeth Cole Sheehan has enjoyed costuming Celia Thaxter. From Mikado to La Boheme, Our Town to Anything Goes, Medea to Nutcracker, amateur, academic or professional, she has enjoyed them all. Currently concentrating on clothing in American history, her talent for quality translates well into film and interpretation.

ACT ONE is very grateful to Ralph Morang, Bob Tuttle, Gardner Fay, William Stephan, Sharon Stephan, Linda Anderle, and Virginia Russell for providing additional photography. And to UNH Media Services, the Portsmouth Public Library, Star Island Corporation, and the Portsmouth Athenaeum for their dedication to assembling a rich archival record of the Isles of Shoals. We also thank Roland and Linda Barnaby for allowing us to include the work of Thomas M. Hoyne III in this production.

ACT ONE gratefully acknowledges the support and participation of the following New Hampshire healthcare facilities and nursing homes. We honor their commitment to making professional theatre available to our senior population.

Courville Communities
Edgewood Centre
Hanover Hill Health Care Center
Hillcrest Terrace Retirement Community
Kendal at Hanover
Rochester Manor

This generous underwriting provides reduced ticketing for two special senior matinees at the Palace Theatre, Manchester on Thursday, May 20th and Friday, May 21st.

ACT ONE is most grateful to the fine museums that generously shared with our audiences the following works of art:

Currier Gallery of Art
John Appleton Brown, 1844—1902
View from Celia Thaxter~ Veranda, Appledore, Isles of Shoals, 1880
Oil on canvas, 20 x 24 in.
Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire
Currier Funds (1994.6)

Fogg Art Museum
John Appleton Brown, 1844-1902
Seascape
Pastel on brown wove paper
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University
John Appleton Brown, 1844-1902
Sunrise on the Ocean
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
John Appleton Brown, 1844-1902
Poppies in a Garden
Pastel
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, Massachusetts

Museum of Fine Arts
Ross Sterling Turner, 1847—1915
A Garden is a Sea of Flowers, 1887
Watercolor, 20',4 x 30Y2 in.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
Gift of the estate of Nellie P. Carter
Frederick Childe Hassam, 1859—1935
Bathing Pool, Appledore, 1907
Oil on canvas, 25 x 30 in. (63.5 x 76.2 cm)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
Ernest Wadsworth Longfellow Fund

Smith College Art Museum
Frederick Childe Hassam. American, 1859—1935
White Island Light, Isles of Shoals, at Sundown, 1899
Oil on canvas, 27 x 27 in. (68.6 x 68.6cm.)
Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold D. Hodgkinson (Laura White Cabot, class of 1922), 1973

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Frederick Childe Hassam, 1859—1935
The Isles of Shoals, 1912
Oil on canvas, 22 x 18 in. (55.9 x 45.7 cm)
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia The Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund

A special thank you to Karen Johnson Boyd for her kind permission to include
The Lily White Wraith

Olaf Brauner, 1869—1949
The Lily White Wraith, 1914 Oil on canvas, 30 x 36 in.
Karen Johnson Boyd

ACT ONE is looking forward to developing out next projects which include a three-part series about the Isles of Shoals for schools (grades 4—12), a two-part program on the Shoals for nursing homes and senior centers, and a design for a continuing education summer seminar about the Shoals for teachers. In the spring of 2000, we hope to bring A.R. Gutney's wonderful comedy Sylvia to New Hampshire theatres, with actors Tom Celli and Virginia Russell in the leading roles.

If you would like more information about ACT ONE's future projects, please fill out the ACT ONE mailing list form, which you will find in the lobby.

The idea for this production presented itself, whole and irresistible, one April evening in 1997. The past two years have been not unlike holding onto the string of a fast-moving kite: an exhilarating adventure full of fear and trembling and the joy of working with some very generous and talented people -- namely, ACT ONE'S splendid Board of Advisors, the inspiring folks at the NH Humanities Council, and the staff of UNH Photographic Services (with special thanks to Ron Bergeron for the photography and the philosophy). The staffs of the theatres and opera houses were exceedingly helpful and patient (with special thanks here to Susan McNeil at The Colonial Theatre), as were the Friends of the Claremont Opera House, the Friends of the Lebanon Opera House, the Exeter Area Association of the Arts, the Friends of the Gilford Public Library, the Rochester Choral Society, and the Friends of the Audi.

The artistry of Peter Randall, Ed Gerhard, John Perrault, Jeff Landrock, Bruce Morriss, and Liz Cole Sheehan made the production possible. Ralph Morang wove the sights and sounds of the Shoals into a pleasing whole, with the eye of a painter and the heart of a musician. For the many of you who have asked, Diane St. Jean was the genius who designed the stunning mailer. A great deal of support was contributed by our hard-working publicist Nora Irvine, Louise Pryor, Judy Dobson, and the multi-talented Joan Voss. Carol at Hampstead Print & Copy and Gary at RMS were so kind to share their computer expertise, and we thank Cadorette Printing for their generosity in the printing of the Playbill.

On a somewhat more personal level, it must be said that Of Pirates & Poets owes its creation to Sharon Stephan, a gifted writer and scholar, a generous and joyous collaborator. I also wish to thank Sandra Whittaker for being, quite simply, one of the most supportive and loving individuals it has been my privilege to know. And finally, I am ever grateful to my kind, patient, and forgiving husband, Robert Nugent, who has become a de facto one-man endowment for the arts. Your love and support are a source of endless joy.

Stephanie Voss Nugent
Executive Director, ACT ONE

Artists' Collaborative Theatre Of New England Collaborative (ACT ONE) is a New Hampshire non-profit arts Theatre and educational corporation formed to promote, present, and produce the fine arts, with special emphasis on professional theatre production.

ACT ONE recognizes that it is essential to the well-being of our society to bring neighbors out of insular and isolated living rooms to join together in a community experience of the arts. New Hampshire is especially fortunate to have several beautifully restored theatres and opera houses, saved from neglect and possible extinction by the hard work, dedication, and devotion of far-sighted individuals and businesses. It is part of ACT ONE's mission to support these fine performance spaces, which are architectural treasures of great worth to our communities and which should be kept well for the enjoyment and enrichment of future generations.

ACT ONE wishes to thank the following businesses for joining us as Partners in Art with their most kind in-kind contributions to our operation in general and Of Pirates & Poets in particular:

FOR YOUR READING PLEASURE about the Shoals...

A Stern and Lovely Scene; University Art Galleries; University of New Hampshire; Durham, NH, 1982

Gosport Remembered; Peter E. Randall and Maryellen Burke; Peter E. Randall Publisher; Portsmouth, NH, 1997

Isles of Shoals in Lore and Legend; Lyman V. Rutledge; Star Island Corporation; Boston, MA, 1965

Isles of Shoals, A Visual History; John D. Bardwell; Peter E. Randall Publisher, for the Portsmouth Marine Society; Portsmouth, NH, 1989

Letters to Celia Written by Cedric Laighton; edited by Frederick T. McGill; Star Island Corporation; Boston, MA, 1988

Moonlight Murder at Smuttynose; Lyman V.Rurledge; Star Island Corporation; Boston, MA, 1988

Ninety Years at the Isles of Shoals; Oscar Laighton; Star Island Corporation; Boston, MA, 1988

Out on the Shoals: Photographs by Peter E. Randall; Peter E. Randall Publisher, Portsmouth, NH, 1995

Sprays of Salt: Reminiscences of a Native Shoaler; John W Downs; Peter E. Randall, Publisher, Portsmouth, 1997

Ten Miles Out; Lyman V. Rutledge; Isles of Shoals Association; (Unitarian Universalist), Boston, MA, 1997

by Celia Thaxter...

Among the Isles of Shoals; Peter E. Randall Publisher; Portsmouth, NH, 1997

An Island Garden; Bullbrier Press; Ithaca, NY, 1985

The Poems of Celia Thaxter; Peter E. Randall Publisher; Portsmouth, NH, 1997

about Celia Thaxter...

Poet on Demand: The Lift, Letters, and Works of Celia Thaxter; Jane E. Vallier; Peter E. Randall Publisher; Portsmouth, NH, 1994

Sandpiper: The Life and Letters of Celia Thaxter; Rosamond Thaxter; Peter E. Randall Publisher; Portsmouth, NH, 1999

For young readers of all ages...

Celia's Lighthouse; Anne Molloy; illustrated by Ursula Koering; Star Island Corporation; Boston, MA, 1976

VISIT THESE FINE BOOKSTORES