BATH

Director Thom Watson is bringing the production “On Golden Pond” to the stage next week at the Chocolate Church Arts Center Bath. Written by playwright Ernest Thompson and adapted into an Oscar-winning film in 1981, “On Golden Pond” follows the story of a quarreling older couple and their family as they spend the summer at their camp on the fictional Maine waterway.

“On Golden Pond” will be performed in the Curtis Room, which holds about 75 people. Since the whole story occurs in and around the camp, Watson said that the characters — and the local actors who portray them — are front and center.

The characters

“This is one of the most character driven pieces I have ever directed,” said Watson, who has been directing plays in the Midcoast for 40 years. “There is a great community of talent in the area, and these actors have really stepped up.”

The cast consists of six actors, many of whom have worked with Watson in the past. They come together four nights a week to rehearse in the Curtis Room, and Watson said the room’s close confines bring the actors closer.

“When you see them all arrive here and get into character in this small room, it’s pretty special,” said Watson.

Peter Havas, who plays family patriarch Norman Thayer, grew up acting in Bath and Brunswick. For the past 20 years he’s been working in Europe, but now he’s back in the Midcoast.

“I’ve been gone a long time, but the Bath acting community has taken me back,” said Havas, who has worked with Watson on features like “A Christmas Carol” and “Little Shop of Horrors.”

“I’ve never done this play before, but I love the movie,” said Havas. “Norman is a fun character. He’s a tough character for me because he’s a nasty crotchety guy, and I’m trying to find the humor in him. There’s got to be some somewhere.”

Watson said that the actors took “a while” to find their characters’ quirks, but as of last weekend’s rehearsals the group was beginning to gel.

“These actors are so into the show now that they are listening to other character’s lines, even if they aren’t in the same scene,” said Watson. “They’re finding clues on how to deepen their own character, picking up on subtle nuances in the writing.”

Tracy Hall of Portland plays Chelsea Thayer Wayne, Norman’s estranged daughter who comes to Golden Pond to drop off her boyfriend’s son with her parents and realizes that she has to make amends with her father.

Hall said she tried to channel her life experiences into her character to create more realism.

“I think one of the things I like most about the play is that — as in real life — there isn’t a solution,” said Hall. “There’s no moment where it’s all fixed. Chelsea sort of says, ‘well, I’m here, and I’m going to try the best I can.’”

Hall said she didn’t enjoy the film version when she first saw it 20 years ago. A second viewing later in life was eye-opening, she said.

“I think it was who I was when I watched it the first time,” said Hall. “You have to be a little bit older and have some regrets, have some sense of what it means to be getting older and know what your life choices have been. There are no more do-overs.”

A community of actors

Hall said being in a production where everyone is committed to their character helps bring her acting to new hights.

“One of the nice things about this process is everybody is here, in the moment, and not thinking about their next job,” said Hall. “Everybody is really invested and digging into the material. I think that’s common in Maine theater, and only becoming more so.”

Clay Hawkes, who plays Chelsea’s boyfriend, Bill Ray, agreed that Bath’s acting community “has been strong.”

“It’s getting even stronger,” said Hawkes, who lives in Bath and has done four previous plays with Watson, including last year’s Chocolate Church production of “A Street Car Named Desire.”

“It seems like there’s as much theater in this area as there’s ever been. It’s a proliferation of more and more directors gaining more actors from a little farther afield, places like Waldoboro and Portland. Community theater isn’t supposed to be professional — it’s usually community folks getting together and doing it for fun — but it’s becoming very professional in the Midcoast.”

Watson said that auditions are fun because he meets new people all the time, while also seeing familiar community members who he’s worked with for years.

“Geno Ring is a counselor at Brunswick High, and I’ve known him for a long time,” said Watson, who cast Ring as Charlie the Mailman after he showed up at an audition. “I hadn’t seen him in years. It’s a small community so it was great to see him. He fits into this cast perfectly.”

The seventh character

Though “On Golden Pond” features six in-the-flesh characters, Watson argues that there is a seventh.

“The camp itself is a major character in the play,” said Watson. “Chelsea talks about how she’s the queen of L.A. when she’s at home, but as soon as she steps back into the camp, she reverts back to being a little girl. The camp shapes who the characters are.”

The set piece consists of a swinging front door, a living room with a fireplace and a bookshelf, a back door with a stairwell leading upstairs and a projection of Golden Pond on the wall outside the camp. Watson said the intimacy of the Curtis Room should immerse the crowd into the set.

“There’s certain scenes throughout the play that really bring the set to life, like when the screen door keeps falling off the hinges and Norman refuses to fix it,” Watson said.

Retired Bath woodworker Joseph Arsenault was in charge of building the set, and said that figuring out how to get the screen door to fall and then be re-attached was the hardest task.

“I had to modify the hinges a bit so it can just fall off,” said Arsenault. “There’s going to be a little lever in there that actors can step on to lift the door up, and down it goes. It took me quite a while to perfect.”

bgoodridge@timesrecord.com

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