It was 1971 when Hackmatack Playhouse founder S. Carleton Guptill first invited patrons to step through the doors of his historic family barn to experience live professional theater in quaint Berwick, Maine. The playhouse was another chapter in the picturesque farm’s colorful history, which dates back to the mid-1600s.

S. Carleton died in 1995, but his son, Michael, has kept the tradition alive, continuing to showcase professional and developing thespians from the local area each summer. This year marks Hackmatack Playhouse’s 40th season. And, to celebrate, the theater opened Wednesday with “Ten Nights in a Barroom,” the first production S. Carleton staged in 1971.

Fittingly, “Ten Nights in a Barroom,” written by William W. Pratt, has quite a history of its own.  Pratt based the melodrama on a book by T. S. Arthur, which was first published in 1854. The book was considered sensationalist literature and rivaled “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” in popularity. Pratt adapted the temperance novel to the stage in 1858, and the story went on to be the subject of six silent films and a 1931 movie starring William Farnum, Tom Santschi and Peggy Lou Lynd.

Hackmatack’s rendition is a musical comedy, adapted by Fred Carmichael and Samuel French.

Blaine Pickett starred as Harvey Greene in S. Carleton Guptill’s 1971 production. In tribute, Pickett, who now resides in Nashville, returned to the playhouse stage Wednesday, reprising his over-the-top, villainous role.

To the audience’s delight, Pickett entered the stage with comedic villain flare, sporting a handlebar moustache and strutting grandly to his sleazy theme music, played by pianist, Kathy Fink. He was a source of sidesplitting entertainment throughout the production, clearly reveling in his overtly corny role.

In further tribute to S. Carleton, several members of the Guptill clan took the stage. Michael, who performed in the 1971 production, made a cameo appearance in the opening bar scene. 

S. Carlton’s daughter, Martha Gallagher, who originally played Mary Morgan, stepped into the role of Mary’s mother, Fanny. Another daughter, Rebecca Guptill-Miller, who played Mehitabel Cartwright in 1971, directed the current production, with her daughter, Katie, taking on her previous role. S. Carleton’s grandsons, Isaac Glidden, Conor Guptill and Aram Guptill, lent their talents as Sample Switchel, Willie Hammond and Frank Slade.

April Boyle is a free-lance writer from Casco. She can be contacted at: aprilhboyle@yahoo.com.

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