Chocolate Church Arts Center is a vessel for stories | Column

I am writing this sitting on my couch with the windows open. Even though I am only a few hundred feet from BIW, it is quiet outside. It is Tuesday, June 30, at 9:06 p.m. It is the final hours of June and our fiscal year, which, if you aren’t in the nonprofit world, probably won’t mean much. For those of us who are, it marks a year of either growth or atrophy. I’m proud to say the Chocolate Church Arts Center has grown a great deal over the last 30 months. We’ve expanded programming, built a staff, grown our board and begun unfolding a long-term vision for the CCAC and its beautiful historic building to remain vital and vibrant for another 50 years. Today, with our 50th anniversary year only six months away, we find ourselves in an upswing thanks to a simple but profound vision: honor beloved traditions while creating new ones. That is the animating spirit behind our new original performance project, “Whale Bones.” [](https://w2pcms.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/TR-Whale-Bones-banner-070326.jpg) “Whale Bones” will be performed over two weekends in August. Inspired by a selection of Grimm fairy tales, audiences will travel through the CCAC campus as the story unfolds around them. (Courtesy of Chocolate Church Arts Center) As we have written elsewhere, the Chocolate Church Arts Center began less as an organizational blueprint than as a desire to make great theatrical performances. Beginning in 1977, visionary theater designer and director Jack Doepp designed, built and staged ambitious annual summer productions, inviting professionals, local residents and young people to create works inspired by Shakespeare and other classics. Those productions remain among the institution’s most cherished memories. His costume drawings for “The Tempest” still hang on the wall in my office. Before coming to the CCAC, I spent more than 20 years as an ensemble member, actor, writer and, later, co-artistic director of Double Edge Theatre. Together we created original immersive performances that blended live music, puppetry, movement, visual art and storytelling. The work toured nationally and internationally, but the project that most shaped me was our annual summer show, where audiences traveled with performers through a former dairy farm transformed into an arts center. For nearly two decades, CCAC Art Director Jeremy Eaton was one of the artists helping to imagine and create those performances. “Whale Bones,” designed and directed by Jeremy Eaton, will be performed Aug. 7–9 and 14–16 at 7:30 p.m. Inspired by a selection of Grimm fairy tales, audiences will travel through the CCAC campus as the story unfolds around them. The artistic team includes Jeremy and myself alongside remarkable collaborators from around the country with deep experience in music, visual design, dramaturgy, puppetry and performance. Just as importantly, the project brings together local artists, community members and a joyful gaggle of children who are helping shape our emerging immersive youth arts program. Advertisement [](https://w2pcms.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/TR-Jack-Doepp-illustrations-070326.jpeg) Original costume design drawings by Jack Doepp. (Courtesy of Chocolate Church Arts Center) The performance centers on the Grimm tale “The Healer” (also known as “Godfather Death”), a story reimagined across generations by artists including Jim Henson, Neil Gaiman and Anne Sexton. In our version, a traveling doctor encounters patients whose stories open into other Grimm tales, including “The Raven,” “The Foundling” and “The Flea and the Louse.” Drawing inspiration from Bath’s enduring relationship with the sea, “Whale Bones” will be an immersive, humorous and imaginative meditation on being alive. Now, on a practical note, because this show moves from location to location, we are forced to limit the amount of tickets we can sell. So please, if you are interested in this work, don’t wait to purchase your tickets. Second, do you want to get your hands dirty with us in the building of this thing? From carpentry to cooking, sewing to singing, we are calling in your help if you are so inclined. Also, we have a wild list of obscure things we need (e.g. a glockenspiel, birds nests, antique medical equipment). Reach out to our front office if you want to contribute in any way! In closing, if it hasn’t been made clear by this piece, when Jeremy and I first began talking about creating a summer show at the CCAC, it didn’t feel like we were bringing something new to the organization. It really just feels like a new chapter in a living story that is this place. _Matthew Glassman is executive and artistic director of the Chocolate Church Arts Center in Bath._ [](https://www.bowdoin.edu/?utm_source=TimesRecord&utm_medium=SupportingSponsorship) **The Times Record Sustaining Sponsor **We believe a community must be informed to thrive. [**bowdoin.edu**](https://www.bowdoin.edu/?utm_source=TimesRecord&utm_medium=SupportingSponsorship) Copy the Story Link Tagged: [chocolate church arts center](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/chocolate-church-arts-center/), [Midcoast Go](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/midcoast-go/), [theater](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/theater/), [Times Record](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/times-record/)