Going north to Alaska

Scarborough’s Karmo Sanders – ‘The Marden’s Lady’ – and her husband leave this week for the first production of their musical

SCARBOROUGH — You know her best as “The Marden’s Lady,” that eerily cheery Maineah who extols the virtues of discount merchandise in a long-running series of TV ads, but Karmo Sanders has another calling – as a Broadway playwright.

On Wednesday, the Scarborough resident left the state along with her husband and musical collaborator, Jerry Sanders, to stage the first production of a full-length musical 11 years in the making.

Of course, as is typical of any new entry to the footlights, the show will run off-Broadway. Really off-Broadway.

“Oh, my goodness, it’s about as far off Broadway as you can get,” Sanders said last week, with a laugh. “It’s in Alaska. Now, how’s that for off-Broadway?”

The term “off-Broadway” actually refers not to theater location, but to pay scales mandated in contracts negotiated with Actors Equity, the union that represents stage actors and associated craft workers. Still, Sanders notes, when the curtain goes up on “Gold Rush Girls” July 27 for a six-week run at Cyrano’s Theater in Anchorage, the company will be a non-Equity crew, meaning the show really is off-off-off-Broadway.

But that’s okay, and Alaska is the perfect place to launch the show, says Sanders. After all, “Gold Rush Girls” is set in a Yukon dance hall during the Klondike gold rush of the late-1890s, with a ragtime rhythm penned by Jerry Sanders.

For both halves of the Sanders & Sanders team, the first full production of their musical – following Equity workshop readings in 2007 with Boston Playwrights at the New Reparatory Theater in Watertown, Mass. and 2008 at St. Lawrence for the Arts in Portland – is the culmination of an joint effort that has consumed the last decade of their lives.

“Oh, it’s certainly been a passion,” said Karmo Sanders. “There’s no way we could have stayed working on this for so long if we weren’t just deadly passionate about it.”

The show is inspired by the 1999 book “Good Time Girls of the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush: A Secret History of the Far North,” by Lael Morgan. A sometime Maine resident and journalism professor, Morgan researched her book through a period of 30 years, starting while a cub reporter in Juneau and finishing as an associate professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The book was published while she was in Maine, working as editor of Portland’s now-defunct alternative newspaper, the Casco Bay Weekly.

The book tells the true story of the hot-blooded, hard-drinking men of the Alaskan frontier and the women – primarily prostitutes and dance hall girls – who loved them, or tolerated them, or, in a few cases, got rich off them. Sanders, a longtime friend of Morgan’s, fell in love with the book right away.

“I saw the picture of those women on the front cover and I just thought, Oh, my God, I know those girlfriends,” said Sanders. “They were the entrepreneurs of that century, they lived a hard life and were not treated very well, being women on the frontier, but, a lot of the times, they were the ones bankrolling the men.”

At the time, Sanders was working on a master’s degree in creative writing at Boston University – a program she was invited to join despite the lack of an undergraduate degree, based on “life experience.”

A Norway native and graduate of Oxford Hills High School – she adopts her Birdie Googins persona and gets gloriously non-specific when asked for a commencement date that might provide a clue to her age – Sanders spent one semester in college, where she met her future husband, an Oklahoma native. The couple bounced around through the ‘70s and ‘80s, raising two children, acting and playing music, with sojourns in Oklahoma, Hawaii, and Kentucky, along with Maine and other places.

By the ‘90s, the couple was working with writing partner Steve Underwood producing and performing “Spellbound,” a musical aimed at youngsters staged at the Brunswick Theater Project, and Radical Radio, an original musical they toured up and down the East Coast for four years. On the latter show, “We almost made a living,” Sanders joked.

While her husband was working on a theater series, “Make a Little More Noise,” commissioned by the Portland Concert Association, Sanders wrote a full-length comedy, “Humpin’ Glory Bay,” produced by the Boston Playwrights Theater in 2000.

While at BU on the strength of that resume, Sanders came home one day from class having written a scene based on “Good Time Girls.” When she walked through the door, her husband was working on a completely unrelated song that would become the musical’s signature love theme.

“I had this scene in my hand and I was like, wow, I love that song. That’s so this, let’s write a musical,” recalled Sanders.

That burst of inspiration led to a lot more work than Sanders initially anticipated, as scenes and songs alike were written, massaged, adapted, discarded, and recycled.

“It was a real education, being introduced to the ragtime era and the beginnings of jazz, and trying to mix in some Native American influences,” said Jerry Sanders, a largely self-taught musician. “I have to say, it’s been a glorious time, with creativity just flowing constantly.”

Through a series of four Boston Playwrights readings directed by Sanders’ BU professor, Kate Snodgrass, the couple learned how to move the plot through song, how to massage lines that sounded better on paper then when actually preformed, and how to let go of sections they’d labored over that simply refused to work.

“It’s been a long time,” explained Karmo Sanders. “It’s really been a steep learning curve.

“They say the art of writing is rewriting, but I don’t think that’s very funny,” she says, with a laugh. “I mean, every six months there’d be a new draft. We walked fire, but finally came out with a form that would hold.”

The show includes 14 characters and takes place over the course of single day. In it, a vengeful prospector turned businessman tries to sabotage the dance hall run by a former lover by taking control of her whiskey supply and arranging the death of her new love. Meanwhile, the dance hall girls are haunted by the spirit of a Tlingit Indian girl killed early in the show.

“Not a lot of characters live to the closing number,” said Sanders. “But the final line – ‘this moment we hold is the purest of gold’ – is what it all comes down to.”

That line, said Sanders, reflects that theme, about cherishing the present, despite hardships and in the face of dangerous ambition.

The exciting thing, the couple said, is finally having a chance to work through an actual production after so many workshop sessions. Even given the quality of the actors who have performed readings, who offered invaluable input, it’ll take a live show with an audience to work out the remaining kinks, said Sanders.

“I’m as good with it as I’m going to get right now,” she says. “Lael just moved back to Alaska from Saco and tells me the opening will be a gala that everyone in Alaska but Sarah Palin will attend.

After Alaska, the Sanders hope, will be a production at a Maine or New England regional Equity theater, possible as soon as next year, folding in what they’ve learned from the Alaskan stand. That run, they hope, will catch the interest of some summer resident with Broadway connections.

“Hey,” Sanders said, “who knows, you gotta shoot the moon. Broadway has always been the goal.”

A CLOSER LOOK

Sample eight of 20 songs from the Sanders & Sanders musical “Gold Rush Girls” at  goldrushmusical.com.

Book a personal appearance by Karmo Sanders in character as Birdie Googins (aka “The Marden’s Lady”) online at birdiegoogins.com.

BIG BANG: Police in Scarborough, SoPo see increase in calls related to fireworks

REGION — Just in time for the July 4 holiday, business is booming in Scarborough at two new fireworks stores, but local police are not exactly celebrating.

That’s because emergency calls to complain about fireworks have risen dramatically since the June 16 opening of Atlas Fireworks on Route 1 and Phantom Fireworks, in the Cabela’s Plaza, June 19.

According to Scarborough Detective-Sgt. Rick Rouse, his department fielded 35 calls about fireworks noise in the seven days following Phantom’s first day of business, up from 11 for all of 2012 prior to that. South Portland Police Chief Ed Googins, who said his officers have fielded 32 complaints since June 17, almost as much in one week than the previous three months, is now employing the use of undercover officers to catch fireworks scofflaws.

“We’ve seen a significant uptick in calls,” Googins said. “We’re not just getting phone calls, we’ve had reports on our tip line, and emails from people who are upset. A number of them have been reported to us as gun shots, which ratchets up our whole level of response, but the disposition of those calls all turned out to be fireworks.”

Now, if officers can chase down any of those calls fast enough to catch someone with a finger on the fuse, they’ll be only too happy to issue a summons.

The problem, police say, is that while Maine legalized so-called “consumer fireworks” effective Jan. 1, municipalities had a local option, which many chose to enact. In both South Portland and Cape Elizabeth, the sale and use of fireworks was banned with the passage of local ordinances last fall. And, although fireworks sales are allowed in Scarborough, use is restricted to just five days per year – Jan. 1, July 3-5, and Dec. 31.

“So, even though sales are allowed, people are not allowed to use them, but clearly they’re doing so anyway,” said Rouse. “It’s a huge issue for us.”

It’s been enough of an issue that this week the Scarborough Police Department amended its reporting system to give fireworks calls their own category. Previously, those complaints were filed under “Disturbances,” said Rouse. However, intimating what a political hot potato the fireworks issue is statewide – many residents, including some Scarborough town councilors, lay blame on Gov. Paul LePage and the Republican-controlled Legislature for disturbing the peace – Rouse said the reporting change was made partly because of the number of requests for fireworks-related data.

It sometimes seems, said Rouse, that there are as many people asking how many complaints have been filed as there are actually filing complaints.

But Rouse, Googins and Cape Elizabeth Police Chief Neil Williams all agree that chasing down fireworks complaints is a low priority, mostly because it’s so hard to actually catch someone in the act of lighting one off.

“By the time you get there, they’re gone,” said Googins.

Part of the problem, he added, is too few officers for too many calls.

“This last Friday evening, we had a resident who ended up texting me to say they witnessed somebody throwing firecrackers,” Googins told to city councilors at a workshop session on Monday. “This person was actually out following these individuals and he wanted to know where the police were, because he had called the police and they weren’t coming.

“Well, we didn’t come for quite a while, I want to say 45 or 60 minutes,” said Googins. “The reason was, the officers were all tied up on matters that were of a higher priority on fireworks. Had that call been a priority crime, we would have invoked mutual aid from Cape or Scarborough or Portland, but we can’t do that for routine calls like discharging fireworks.”

So far, local police departments say they’ve taken a fairly light hand when they are actually able to catch an offender.

“It seems most people are fairly familiar with the Maine law, but are not up to speed on the local ordinance, or at least that’s what they claim,” Rouse said.

Atlas owner Stephen Pelkey said his shop keeps a list, provided by the State Fire Marshal’s Office, of local rules in every Maine community. Pelkey said “a dozen” cars were parked in his lot waiting for him to unlock the doors on opening day, and business has remained brisk ever since, with average sales of $150 per customer. Still, busy as his staff is, Pelkey claims they have taken time to advise each customer on fireworks restrictions, if any, in their communities. Phantom Fireworks owner Jarred Falls said his employees also are passing along that information.

Even so, Rouse said Scarborough police have adopted an “educational approach,” even in neighborhoods where complaints are clustered, such as Holmes Road, Gorham Road and Mitchell Hill Road.

“I think it’s been mostly warnings that have been handed out, along with information about the local ordinance,” he said

Cape Elizabeth has not seen the same sort of increase. There have only been six complaints about fireworks filed there since June 1, about the same as last year’s lead-up to Independence Day. However, Williams, the police chief, said he expects to take the same educating-the-public approach when the time comes.

But Googins, in South Portland, said the time has come to take a more punitive approach.

“I’m done with the education,” he said. “It’s out there. It’s been in the newspapers, we have signs up in the community. People know the law. If we can issue a summons, we will.”

The use of fireworks in Cape Elizabeth and South Portland and can draw initial fines of $200-$400, with subsequent offenses running $300-$600 per violation. Selling fireworks in either community will net a fine of $500 for a first offense and “not less than $1,000” for repeated sales.

In Scarborough, fines for discharging fireworks on unapproved days can run from $100 to $500, while a “willful violation” after a warning from police can draw a $10,000 penalty.

With complaints appearing to cluster in the Redbank and Ferry Village neighborhoods, Googins has authorized undercover patrols, despite the cost to his overtime budget.

“You can’t sneak up on people in a cruiser,” he said. “So, we’ve put officers in plain cloths, in an unmarked vehicle, to sit in an area where we’ve had a complaint of fireworks.”

It can be tough to identify the likely areas to patrol, admitted Googins, as most complainants have trouble narrowing down a point of origin for the series of small explosions that typify an illegal fireworks demonstration. Still, he said, a summons was issued Friday by plain-clothed officers to a person who was brazen enough to try for a second round of noisemaking after an initial warning.

“I think we’re getting to the point where we may start to issue some disorderly conduct summonses as well,” said Rouse. “I think the newness of it all is part of what’s fueled the increase in activity. I don’t know if it’ll ever quit down without a few summonses and fines. Hopefully, that will solve the problem.”

Man dies in plane crash at Fort Williams

CAPE ELIZABETH — A family doctor from Durham was killed Sunday afternoon after his small plane crashed into the water near Portland Head Light at Fort Williams Park.

The man, identified as Dr. Louis Hanson, 66, took off alone from Twitchell airport in Turner, apparently with plans to take aerial pictures of the historic lighthouse, said Cape Elizabeth Police Chief Neil Williams on Monday.

“We know from his wife and from Twitchell’s that he was alone, but an extensive search was launched at the time, before that was known, because the plane was reported as a four-seater,” said Williams.
Williams said it’s unclear what caused Hanson’s 1967 Stinson Voyager to go down. The U.S. Coast Guard and the Federal Aviation Administration have taken the lead on the investigation, he said. 

Neither returned requests for information by press time.

According to eyewitness reports, Hanson survived the initial impact, and began to swim to shore but quickly lost strength. He was pulled aboard what Williams described as a “civilian pleasure boat” that was the first craft on scene, and then transferred to a Sea Tow vessel where CPR was initiated. He never regained consciousness.

No cause of death was known on Monday. The place remained in the water just off the rocks of Fort Williams Park.

“As I understand it, there is nothing leaking from the plane and, that being the case, it will up to the insurance company to decide when and how to remove it from the water,” said Williams.

Domestic dispute draws taser fire in South Portland

SOUTH PORTLAND — A South Portland man was subjected to the electric shock of a taser on May 31 by police officers called to his Ocean Street apartment on the report of a domestic disturbance.

“This is an address we have responded to many times over the past couple of months for a variety of reasons, usually noise and disturbance complaints,” said Lt. Frank Clark, spokesman for the South Portland Police Department.

According to Clark, Nicholas Pallas, 32, opened his door to the visiting officers at about 11:30 p.m., but upon seeing their uniforms immediately slammed it shut again.

“They observed that Pallas had blood on his face,” said Clark, adding that police forced the door open after failing to convince anyone inside the apartment to re-open the door.

Officers then had to break down a second door to a locked bedroom, where they found Pallas and Carol Ann Vining, 23, of Portland, hiding in “a crawl space.” According to Clark, Pallas then pointed a “small, black object” at the officers as they tried to coax him out into the bedroom. That object turned out to be pepper spray, which Pallas tried to use on the officers, but it could easily have been mistaken for a firearm in the confusion of the moment, said Clark.

“I really want to commend the officers on their professionalism,” said Clark. “Try to picture yourself going into a potentially violent situation like that. Luckily, their training and their focus and a lot of things came together and they made the right decision.”

That decision was to fire a taser at Pallas who, incredibly, “continued to fight officers before ultimately being taken into custody.”

South Portland police officers received tasers as standard issue equipment in the spring of 2005, following a pilot program the previous year. Since then, the units have been used an average of four times per year, said Clark, noting “a maximum of eight deployments in any one calendar year.”

Police officers in South Portland are required to document any use of force greater than an “unassisted handcuffing,” said Clark. An administrative review board looks into every use of a taser. Officers are not taken off patrol duty while that investigation is under way.

Pallas was arrested and transported to the Cumberland County Jail, where he was booked on charges of refusing to submit to arrest or detention, assault, criminal use of disabling chemicals, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and violation of bail conditions. Despite the latter charge, officials in the records department of the Cumberland County Jail say Pallas has no prior record or outstanding charges. He was released Friday on $500 cash bail.

Vining was previously arrested Feb. 27 for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence. She was charged with refusing to submit to arrest or detention and violating bail conditions. She was released June 1 on $100 cash bail.