A Boondoggle Theatre “Gig” in Martha’s Vineyard

Our website editor Auntie M (aka Mary Murfitt) is also a composer/lyricist as well as an actor.  Just recently she was offered an acting “gig” in Martha’s Vineyard.  She’s there right now working on a new musical with an old friend and colleague of hers.  I asked her if she would send us some “postcards from the road” thinking it might be fun to follow her there via our Hammertown blog.  I’ve also asked her to check out a couple shops and restaurants while she’s there.  If you’re familiar with Martha’s Vineyard, let us know if you have any suggestions of not-to-be-missed places and we’ll send Mary there to check them out.  -  Joan

[click photos to enlarge]

How could I say “no” to my old friend Rhonda Coullet?  She was one of the stars of my musical Cowgirls some years ago and in the productions leading up to the Off Broadway production in New York, she never said “no” to me.

Rhonda’s written a musical entitled Runaway Beauty Queen which I’ve been involved in over the last few years but this particular Workshop Production at the Vineyard Playhouse in Martha’s Vineyard came up pretty suddenly.  Thankfully, since I can do most of our Hammertown website content from afar, Joan was okay with me taking a few weeks off.   Thanks Joan!

I loaded up my car with everything I was going to need — including things for living and for the show (like my violin and a guitar) and headed for Woods Hole, MA.  I didn’t look like the Beverly Hillbillies getting on the ferry but I sure had way more stuff than most of the other people on the boat.  Though it was early evening and cloudy it was a lovely 45 minute ride into Vineyard Haven.

After docking I headed to the theatre to meet everyone and find out where I was staying.  As an actor, one of the biggest things you worry about when you work out of town is your housing.  After all, it’s where you’re going to be living for the next few weeks (or even few months sometimes).   It’s always a crap shoot — especially when you’re working in a small theatre you’ve never worked at before.  It can be pretty bad.  I’ve stayed in places that had fleas, palmetto bugs (sorry Floridians, but they’re actually big roaches that fly); even one place with a smelly dead rat in the wall.  Ah, the glamour of show business.

So, when my roommate Janet (who had arrived earlier) got in my car and directed me to our pad I was holding my breath–she wasn’t saying anything definite about the place.

Well…it turns out I had nothing to worry about.  Look at this place!  It’s gorgeous.  Big kitchen…great layout…giant deck…soaking tub…tennis courts just steps away…a pool and the beach is a few minutes down the road.  Very cool!

After the first day of rehearsal (which was all about learning music) some of us gals and our token male musical director decided we should go out for a drink and dinner.  Turns out you can’t get a cocktail in Vineyard Haven.  We were told the closest town for “big girl” drinks was Oak Bluffs…just a few miles away.  Oak Bluffs is a charming little seaside town on the northeast side of M.V.  It began as a “revivalist-movement camp meeting site” more than a century ago.  Over the years, the tents were replaced by small cottages in what they call the “campground gothic” style.  They look like pastel gingerbread houses.

Eventually we found a restaurant called “Nancy’s” right on the water in Oak Bluff’s harbor and sat outside.  I have to say, the food and the view were both good (though, honestly, the view was better).

All in all it was a great first day of rehearsal.  Since most of us have worked together before it was also a fun evening of catching up with what everyone’s been up to over the past couple years.  Tomorrow…hopefully…we’ll have the new script they promised.  With only 2 weeks of rehearsal, a new script and over 25 songs –  it’s all going to be a quite a challenge.