Skye Theatre’s new stage offers ideal acoustics and lighting with tiers for bands, step dancers and pipers
CARTHAGE — It feels as though you’re in the middle of nowhere when you turn onto a dirt road just east of Dixfield. It feels as though maybe you’ve come to the wrong place when you see the unfinished industrial exterior of a large building. Could this really be the Skye Theatre that brings in top musical performers from Canada, Scotland and Ireland?
One step inside puts all doubts to rest.
A three-tiered stage designed and built specifically for Celtic music looms impressively and naturally. An immense Celtic cross built into the back wall with arms extending to the side walls — as if to embrace performers and audiences alike — exemplifies just one of the many elements of owner Phill McIntyre’s vision for a performing arts center.
What started out as one of the largest antique auto garages and sales lots in Maine with abandoned chassis piled and strewn about a dirt lot has transformed over the past few years into a musical oasis.
“Everything just came into my head,” McIntyre said, recalling the time he considered retiring from antique dealing and auctioneering. “When you have a vision, it’s beyond reason or what’s normally sensible. You’ve just got to do it.”
McIntyre’s wife, Jan, an integral part of the theater operation when she’s not working as a nurse, knows her husband well enough to know he wasn’t crazy. But she wasn’t sure what to expect.
“He’s very passionate about music,” Jan McIntyre said. “I knew that if it was going to work, he could make it work. This place has the feel of the old Grange meeting halls. People come together and are very appreciative. They help us build it.”
Still a work in progress, Skye Theatre Performing Arts Center has upgraded from a tiny platform on the building’s second floor to an acoustically ideal stage complete with conducive lighting and textured sound walls. The bulk of the stage, now in its third season, can comfortably hold an eight-piece band. A small second tier is meant to showcase step dance while a third upper level is designed for pipers.
Bob and Jane Nadeau of Rumford first attended concerts about five years ago and have been amazed at the changes over the years.
“At first we thought, ‘what is this?’ ” Bob Nadeau said. “But we fell in love with the place and have been coming ever since. I think we only missed three shows all of last year.”
Jane Nadeau admitted she feared at first that it would be a “beer joint,” but now looks forward to the shows regardless of whether she has heard of the performers or knows anything about the music.
“There’s always quality here no matter what it is,” Jane Nadeau said. “This is what we do instead of going to the movies. This is our entertainment. And we know that it’s always going to be good. I’m an Acadian and fiddle music is tied to my roots, but I’ve become a fan of other music that I’ve heard here.”
Besides enjoying the music, the Nadeaus said they’ve enjoyed getting to know people who come to the shows and the community atmosphere. People contribute baked goods to serve during the show to bring in donations for the theater.
The continuous work on the theater happens during the six weeks from mid-February through December when shows aren’t booked. And most of it is done by local volunteers and artisans like John Brown of Wilton, who added the scrolling railing made out of Asian bittersweet wood.
“There’s no way I could do this alone,” McIntyre said. “The idea is to have a self-supporting performance center.”
The performers also appreciate the details, the touches of home and the sincere attention they receive at Skye Theatre.
Just before a recent performance, Mac McHale of the Old Time Radio Gang sat upstairs in a condo-like setting having coffee before going on-stage. McHale, 79, has been performing professionally for 66 years across the country from the Kennedy Center to tiny town halls.
“It isn’t just one thing about this place that makes it so great. It’s all the little things,” McHale said. He noted that soundman Andy Leblanc is always there to greet them when the band arrives — always on time and prepared and never a concern.
“Everything is taken care of, and you don’t feel like you’re just another act,” McHale said. “There’s a lot of love here between everyone with Phill and his wife, with the audience. And you know, music is a form of love. When you feel that, you can put your heart into your music.”
The hospitality that ranges from private bedrooms, grocery shopping, a washer and dryer and personal touches from the McIntyres gives Skye Theatre that extra something to put it on the map when performers are traveling through the area. Instead of driving through Maine, artists can stop over for midweek performances without the expense of hotel bills.
To make it worth their while, McIntyre has formed alliances with other venues throughout the state such as the Franco-American Center in Lewiston and places in Unity, Rangeley, Boothbay Harbor and Berlin, N.H. McIntyre travels with the performers to serve as emcee, to provide Leblanc’s sound services and to assure the artists top-notch treatment. McIntyre also cross-promotes his shows with the many music festivals put on in Maine.
“I don’t want to be an agent for any band,” McIntyre said. “I just want to bring music here. I’m looking for performers who connect with audiences, who are entertaining. Somehow, I just always knew that I wanted to do something with music.”
McHale predicted that anyone who comes to Skye Theatre for the first time, whether to perform or to listen, would be back. “You couldn’t ask for a better place,” he said.
Upcoming concerts
WHO: Canadian singer-songwriter Lennie Gallant
(crosses folk, Celtic, rock and country genres)
WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 21
WHERE: Franco-American Heritage Center, Lewiston
TICKETS: $20
WHO: Lennie Gallant
WHEN: 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 22
WHERE: Skye Theatre, 2 Highland Drive, off Winter Hill Road and U.S. Route 2, South Carthage
TICKETS: $20
WHO: Lennie Gallant
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 23
WHERE: Unity College for the Performing Arts in Unity
TICKETS: $20
WHO: The Outside Track (blend of Canadian, Scottish and Irish music)
WHEN: 6 p.m. Monday, June 27
WHERE: Fisherman’s Wharf Inn, 22 Commercial St., Boothbay Harbor
TICKETS: $25
WHO: The Outside Track
WHEN: 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 29
WHERE: Skye Theatre, South Carthage
TICKETS: $15
WHO: The Outside Track
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 30
WHERE: Unity College for the Performing Arts in Unity
TICKETS: $15
WHO: The Kane Sisters (Irish fiddlers)
WHEN: 6 p.m. Monday, July 4
WHERE: Fisherman’s Wharf Inn, Boothbay Harbor
TICKETS: $25
WHO: The Kane Sisters
WHEN: 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 6
WHERE: Skye Theatre, Carthage
TICKETS: $15
WHO: The Kane Sisters
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 7
WHERE: Unity College for the Performing Arts in Unity
TICKETS: $15
WHO: Sandy River Ramblers
WHEN: 7 p.m. Sunday, July 10
WHERE: Skye Theatre, Carthage
TICKETS: $15
WHO: Cape Breton fiddler Colin Grant
WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 12
WHERE: Franco-American Heritage Center, Lewiston
TICKETS: $15
WHO: Colin Grant
WHEN: 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 13
WHERE: Skye Theatre, Carthage
TICKETS: $15
WHO: Colin Grant
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 14
WHERE: Unity College for the Performing Arts in Unity
TICKETS: $15
WHO: Colin Grant
WHEN: 6 p.m. Friday, July 15
WHERE: Fisherman’s Wharf Inn, 22 Commercial St., Boothbay Harbor
TICKETS: $25
WHAT: Sebago-Long Lake Festival
WHEN: 7 p.m. Sunday, July 17
WHERE: Skye Theatre, Carthage
TICKETS: $15
WHO: Ian Sherwood Song Writer’s Circle
WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 19
WHERE: New North Portland Community Church near Kingfield
TICKETS: $8
WHO: Ian Sherwood Song Writer’s Circle
WHEN: 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 20
WHERE: Skye Theatre, Carthage
TICKETS: $15
WHO: Ian Sherwood Song Writer’s Circle
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 21
WHERE: Unity College for the Performing Arts in Unity
TICKETS: $15
WHO: Ian Sherwood Song Writer’s Circle
WHEN: 6 p.m. Friday, July 22
WHERE: Fisherman’s Wharf Inn Dinner Concert
TICKETS: $25
WHO: Folk singer-songwriter Dave Mallett
WHEN: 7 p.m. Sunday, July 24
WHERE: Skye Theatre, Carthage
TICKETS: $20
WHO: Bb Sisters & Skip Holmes
WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 26
WHERE: Lakeside Theatre, Rangeley
TICKETS: $20/15
WHO: Bb Sisters (fiddle/piano) & Skip Holmes (guitar)
WHEN: 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 27
WHERE: Skye Theatre, Carthage
TICKETS: $15
WHO: Bb Sisters & Skip Holmes
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 28
WHERE: Unity College for the Performing Arts in Unity
TICKETS: $15
WHAT: Saltwater Celtic Festival
WHEN: noon Sunday, July 31
WHERE: Thomas Point Beach, Brunswick
TICKETS: $25
For more information and directions, call 562-4445 or visit www.necelticarts.com.
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- Visitors to the Skye Theatre Performing Arts Center get a view of the Western Maine mountains from the parking lot high on Winter Hill in Carthage. “There is plenty of sky up here,” said owner Phill McIntyre.
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- Before each show at the Skye Theatre Performing Arts Center, visitors gather in a circle for a jam session. Visiting performers will often join in, as Andrea Beaton and Owen Marshall do here during a Wednesday evening concert.
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- “We build it as we go,” said Phill McIntyre, owner of the Skye Theatre Performing Arts Center in Carthage, who is sitting on the “Skye Stairway” on the hardwood stage.
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- Irish singer and flute player Nuala Kennedy performs during a Wednesday evening concert at the Skye Theatre Performing Arts Center in Carthage.
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- Ed and Leslie Rosenberg of Bryant Pond enjoy a picnic outside the Skye Theatre Performing Arts Center in Carthage. As a child, Leslie Rosenberg’s family had picnics all the time and the Rosenberg’s have carried on the tradition every Wednesday at the same picnic table before heading inside to hear the show. “If you really love Celtic music, this is the place to hear authentic Celtic music,” said Leslie Rosenberg . “I just love it hear,” said,” said Rosenberg.
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- Irish singer and flute player Nuala Kennedy, left, Cape Breton fiddler Andrea Beaton and Maine guitarist Owen Marshall perform during a Wednesday evening concert at the Skye Theatre Performing Arts Center in Carthage.
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