Got your ticket punched? Ferry’s setting sail: Shelter Island community musical opens Thursday night

An island on an island, whose residents come to life for four nights. A mirror on a time in Shelter Island’s history, populated by characters vaguely similar to those we know today, set to a musical score that carries the listener to a place somewhere in the past, just the other side of reality.

Its name is “A Deck of Ferry Tales,” a community musical taking the outdoor stage at 6 p.m. on July 18, 19, 20 and 21 at the Shelter Island History Center.

The residents of Brigadoon, the fictional village created by Lerner and Loewe, had to wait 100 years later. Here on the Island, our resident playwright Lisa Shaw conjures up a new fictional island once a year, this summer carrying us back into the 1950’s.

This time, in a creative partnership with Joanne Sherman, she’s written “A Deck of Ferry Tales,” some fact, mostly fiction — a fantasy to transport the audience to a land of music and comedy for four nights only.

The musical, which has come together over weeks and months through the efforts of some 40 Islanders, is an annual fundraiser for the Shelter Island Historical Society, in whose archives Ms. Shaw has found inspiration for this and three previous shows.

The concept was created in 2021, when Ms. Shaw and Nanette Lawrenson, Executive Director of SIHS, were looking for an event that could benefit the Society, as the COVID pandemic was taking a toll on the Island and many of its businesses and institutions.

The first show was “A Hill of Beans,” about the Island’s venture and misadventures in the lima bean industry. It was followed by “The Prospect of Summer,” set in the heyday of the Island’s Prospect Hotel in a world peopled by bootleggers and swindlers.

Last year’s “Lords of Menantic” set the saga of a dysfunctional Island family in the time of sailing ships.

For “Ferry Tales,” the writers drew on lore gleaned from the memories of ferry crews, including Ms. Sherman’s husband, Hoot.

Once the script was written and Ms. Shaw had its music planned, the cast, crew and other key players came together for weeks and weeks of rehearsals. Charity Robey manages the backstage and the bustle of activity unseen by the audience.

Ms. Lawrenson provides the resources necessary for the production, and coordinates marketing and tickets. Musicians led by Ms. Shaw produce lively tunes for the cast to sing and dance to.

The actors, some playing multiple roles, include Jim Gereghty, Lenore Dileo-Berner, Marianne Carey, Marie Bishko, Maya Robey, Moira Moderelli, Nicholas Labrozzi, Stephen Adkison, Tim Purtell, Tom Hashagen, Wendy Turgeon, Christina Herman, Christopher Carey, Marie Bishko, Charles Stark, James Dawson, Jessie King, Christopher Herman, Dan Berner, Janet D’Amato, Donna Emma, and Bruce Leggett-Flynn.

Jed Feldman and Carolyn Topp are musicians, along with Ms. Shaw and Mr. Hashagen. Peter Waldner has created sets and scenery; Alice and Bernie Ott and Ann Biddlecom, stagehands, keep the action moving on and off the stage (and the ferry).

It should be noted that fundraising for the show, which in turn raises funds for the work of SIHS, began months ago, with sponsors including Hampton Jitney, J.W. Piccozzi, Inc., Dime Community Bank, Jeff Architect, Shelter Island Union Free School District, Ram Design and Seven.

Some benefactors remained anonymous (one in honor of Chuck Tiernan). Other patrons and sponsors included John and Marie Evans, D. Jean Dickerson, Deborah Shepherd, Donald and Margaret Mosher, Edward and Nancy Barr, Melanie Coronetz and Bruce Miller, and Michael Carey.

Donations were received from Amy Cococcia, Belle and Jerry Lareau, Christopher and Bonnie Carey, Doctors Glen and Heather Ross, Frances Curran, John D’Amato and Sharon Donno, Rita Marsh and Mary Fran Gleason, who gave in honor of the cast and crew.

Additional donors include Charles Stark, James Dawson and Roz Dimon, Jean and Gerard Drumm, Jody Geist, John and Susan Sterling, Katherine Doroski and John Cronin, Lois B. Morris and Robert Lipsyte, Martha Pichey, Peter Grand and Laurie Goodstein, Susan Harris and James Gereghty — in memory of Jane Ann.

When the curtain rises, figuratively speaking, the audience — friends, family, neighbors all — will see what all those nights of missed family events and late dinners have achieved. Haven’t got tickets? Go to shelterislandhistorical.org or the History Center at 16 South Ferry Road, to buy them and do something good for yourself, and our Historical Society.