The Katharine Cornell Theatre was buzzing with energy last Friday evening, just one hour before Theatre on the Blue’s penultimate performance of The Hobbit on the Vineyard. Troop members made last minute runs for bubble solution and prepared to don their Middle-Earth-inspired costumes as the minutes ticked down to showtime.
Heather Capece, founder of Theatre on the Blue, sat onstage braiding cast members’ hair.
Though the troop’s performances on Island wrapped up Saturday, this pre-curtain ritual will return next month in Edinburgh, Scotland, over 3,000 miles away. There, Theatre on the Blue will attend the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with WorldStrides, immersing themselves in a week of performance, theatre workshops and connecting with teen-acting troops from around the world.
The Fringe Festival is just one opportunity for members of Theatre on the Blue, which aims to foster growth in young actors — mostly teens — and instill a love of creative storytelling.
Ms. Capece said that even though rehearsals didn’t start until February, The Hobbit has been in the works since last summer. After the troop decided on it, they had to reach out to Tolkien representatives at Middle Earth Enterprise to get their production green-lit.
“Everything had to be approved,” said Ms. Capece, naming the show’s poster, shirts and even recordings of the play itself among the things sent to representatives for review.
With the support of Middle Earth Enterprise, Theatre on the Blue began rehearsals. Their cast and crew totaled eight people, most of whom would end up playing three to five roles. For these actors, adaptable blocking and scripting were essential to hitting their cues on time.
“It’s definitely a simplified script, but it’s still the whole story,” said Koko Capece, Ms. Capece’s daughter, and the production’s very own Thorin Oakenshield. “It’s still just as powerful, still just as cool.”
Creativity was the main method of storytelling for the troop, as they used shadow-work, repurposed props and handmade costumes to capture the Hobbit’s more fantastical elements. Koko said this outside-the-box thinking was what gave their production its charm.
“I think it’s very much fit for the franchise,” she said. “Everything you see there is kind of artsy and quirky, but really cool and unique.”
Ms. Capece said that certain details in the Vineyard production were meant to prepare the troop for the festival in Scotland. She’d set up chairs to line either side of the stage, positioning audience members right in the action and mimicking their closeness at the theatre in Edinburgh. At the end of the show, actors returned to the stage for a Q&A.
“I think it makes them feel good, because you do that show and then you don’t know what the audience thinks,” said Ms. Capece. “It’s nice to have that interaction with the audience.”
As the troop prepares to take the Hobbit international, Koko has reflected on her time at the festival in 2023, when she played Peter Pan in Peter Pan.
“It’s not gonna hit them until they’re there and they’re like, wow, there’s a lot of teenagers here, and they’re all doing what I like to do,” she said.
The experience is an opportunity to make friends with other theatre troops and support one another as actors, Ms. Capece added. The festival is all about connecting over a shared passion for performance.
“It builds confidence, it builds self esteem, it builds this love of theatre,” she said.
The troop believes attending the festival puts Theatre on the Blue — and Martha’s Vineyard — on the map.
“They’re going to perform in another country,” said Ms. Capece. “To me, that’s them representing the Island.”
Koko agreed and pointed out the similarities between Bilbo’s journey in the Hobbit and the troop’s upcoming travel.
“It’s an exciting time,” she said. “We’re literally about to go on an adventure.”
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