BATH

In her first appearance at Bath’s Chocolate Church Arts Center, Sally Jones will be in character as famous Maine senator Margaret Chase Smith for the entirety of Sunday afternoon.

With each presentation of her solo show, “Mrs. Smith Goes to Washington,” Jones feels more and more at home in Smith’s shoes — a tall order, as Smith had one of the most decorated careers of any Maine senator.

But the show, Jones said, is more than just a history lesson.

“I speak directly to the audience,” said Jones, who has been doing “Mrs. Smith Goes to Washington” since 2009 — 14 years after Smith’s death in 1995. “It’s an intimate portrait of Margaret Chase Smith.”

Jones is the only actor on stage for the entirety of the show, giving an intimate feel as she tells the story of Smith’s life — from growing up in early 20th Century Skowhegan to being the only woman at the time elected to both the house and the senate.

The show also highlights Smith’s spar with Joseph McCarthy when she was new to the senate in 1950 — perhaps her greatest moment. She reacted to McCarthy’s infamous “Wheeling Speech” with her “Declaration of Conscience,” where she criticized McCarthy’s rampant labeling of communists within the senate and the country as a whole as unconstitutional.

“She was scared, but she couldn’t let him get away with it,” said Jones, who remarked that Smith’s courage to stand up to McCarthy was a key moment in the history of women’s rights. But it’s just one of many stories that Jones will highlight in her show. In fact, Jones said, she learns more and more about Smith each time she takes the stage.

“There are usually a lot of people who knew her in the audience, and so after each show I ask people for stories about her,” Jones said. “I stay in character. I say, ‘I know you, but what do you know about me?’ I’ve heard so many wonderful stories.”

Jones began moonlighting as Margaret Chase Smith when Linda Britt — who wrote the play — sent her an email asking if she’d be interested in playing the role.

“I didn’t know that much about Margaret, but I said ‘send the script,’” Jones said. “It was pretty daunting. I met with (Britt) and said I’d give it a try.”

Since then, Jones has traveled the state and brought her show to a host of towns including Stonington, Portland, South Paris, Falmouth, Orr’s Island and Mexico.

Jones is 75 years old and involved in multiple acting and directing programs throughout the state, including her own theater company in Norway. However, she had been thinking of hanging up the reigns as Mrs. Smith before she was approached by Phyllis Bailey of the Cosmopolitan Club of Bath earlier this year.

“I saw her show a number of years ago when she was first doing the show,” said Bailey, who stressed that the Cosmopolitan Club’s mission is inspiring and supporting the ideas of women. “The show just brought home the power of what one person can do.”

Bailey met with Jones and encouraged her to do another show. A conversation with Jennifer Dechant of the Chocolate Church Arts Center sealed the deal for a venue, and this Sunday’s show was born.

Bailey said the the Chocolate

Church and the Cosmopolitan Club are splitting proceeds from the show to benefit their respective programs.

“Part of why I was interested in this show is that I’m tired of instability, tired of hearing that people can’t work together and get things done,” said Bailey. “It’s essential to the quality of life in our communities. I love the fact that (Smith) stood up to a bully in Joe McCarthy and said what he was doing was just not acceptable. She had the courage to do it. I give her a lot of credit.”

Jones, who taught social studies at Oxford Hills before retiring to follow her acting and directing passions, said it’s her “great regret” that she never met Smith. “She was a fascinating woman,” she said.

“I got a letter once,” said Jones. “The letter read: ‘I thought I was going to see a boring history play, but quite the contrary. It was fun and entertaining.’ People always seem to like it. I think it gives them a lot of hope. I always feel I’m honoring Margaret and keeping her job alive. She’s been dead awhile, and she’s not on Facebook or anything, and so people are forgetting. I want young people to know about her. Any Mainer should be proud to be from her state.”

“(Smith) was so relevant,” Bailey said. “It doesn’t matter what political party she was about. She was just about integrity.”

“Mrs. Smith Goes to Washington” begins at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 9 at the Chocolate Church Arts Center. Tickets can be purchased at chocolatechurch.com or cosmopolitanclubofbath.com.

bgoodridge@timesrecord.com