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FROM LEFT, Ian Horch as Turner Buckminster III, Gabe Tower as Willis Hurd and Siham Mohamed as Lizzie Bright Griffin.
FROM LEFT, Ian Horch as Turner Buckminster III, Gabe Tower as Willis Hurd and Siham Mohamed as Lizzie Bright Griffin.
BRUNSWICK

The Theater Project is bringing the story of Turner and Lizzie to the stage, with performances of “Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy” taking place through Nov. 19.

Turner Buckminster III can’t win: He’s the new kid in town, he plays baseball differently, and he stumbles upon trouble at every step. Turner’s only friend is Lizzie Bright Griffin from Malaga Island, an impoverished Maine community founded by former slaves. The town — and Turner’s father — disapproves of their friendship, but Turner and Lizzie remain friends regardless. When powerful forces threaten Lizzie and her kin, Turner faces the ultimate test of his character — and learns a hard-earned lesson about courage and loss.

JOHN AND ROSELLA EASON and family stand outside their home on Malaga Island sometime near the turn of the 19th century. Forty-five mixed-race residents were evicted from the Phippsburg island in 1912 after the state of Maine deemed the community undesirable.
JOHN AND ROSELLA EASON and family stand outside their home on Malaga Island sometime near the turn of the 19th century. Forty-five mixed-race residents were evicted from the Phippsburg island in 1912 after the state of Maine deemed the community undesirable.
“The true and tragic story of Malaga Island, upon which the book and play are based, is a difficult and sad moment in Maine history that, for many years, most people did not want to learn or talk about,” said director Nat Warren-White. “As a young boy growing up on Casco Bay, I spent many idyllic summers on Yarmouth Island in Quahog Bay, just around the corner from the New Meadows River. In the 1950s and ‘60s, I heard vague references to Malaga Island, but it wasn’t until I was in my 20s and 30s that I really began to understand this dark corner of Maine’s history.”

Starting after he took office in 1911, Maine Gov. Frederick Plaisted directed the removal of residents from the island, placing many of them in various institutions, ending with the mass eviction of the 45 remaining members of the interracial community. Authorities even dug up graves of those buried on the island, taking the remains for reburial at the Maine School for the Feeble-Minded in Pownal.

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In 2010, Maine legislators issued a statement of regret for what happened on Malaga Island – though descendants and others connected to the community were not notified of this.

“In the early 2000s, I heard about the book ‘Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy,’ written by Gary Schmidt and subsequently adapted for the stage by Cheryl West,” said Warren-White. “Once I knew the play existed, I was determined to bring it to Maine.

“Originally, it was jointly commissioned and produced by the Minneapolis and Seattle Children’s Theaters and then later staged in Boston by my friend, Bob Colby, at Emerson Stage,” he added. “I am proud to be bringing ‘Lizzie Bright’ to the Theater Project.”

Produced by special arrangement with Plays For Young Audiences and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, “Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy” will be onstage through Nov. 19. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday. There will be talk back sessions with local experts after each of the matinee performances.

Tickets are available online anytime at

TheaterProject.com/coming-up or by calling (207) 729-8584. The Theater Project is located at 14 School St. in Brunswick.


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