Inmates clean up at Chatham Drama Guild

Barnstable County Sheriff’s inmate Jason Gulley tosses one of many barrels of dump-worthy material, much of it old props, into a dumpster outside the Chatham Drama Guild’s headquarters and theatre on Crowell Road. The off-season repetitions of lugging and tossing will help get the place ship shape for summer performances. Gulley was part of a four-man inmate crew, supervised as always by a deputy sheriff.

Now we see inmate Adrien Pelletier hauling out an old door. Part two of the job will include removing the theatre’s old stage and building a brand new one. It’s estimated the four-day project will save the local, non-profit theatre company more than $3,500 in donated inmate labor, computed using a wage scale drawn up by government labor statisticians. The job is not the first performed by inmates dispatched by Sheriff Jim Cummings to this location.

Not part of the pile destined for dumpster oblivion is this photo hanging on wall inside the guild’s theatre. It depicts three local actors in last summer’s production of Mary Poppins, including at left the banker — played by Joe Theroux. Theroux is on the guild’s board of directors and was also on hand this day to help with the inmate cleanup. “It’s a ‘win-win,’ Theroux said of the day’s labor. “Many of those who belong to our non-profit would be hard pressed to handle this back-breaking work.” Theroux was a school principal before retiring into the Cape’s acting pool.
Media release and photos furnished by Barnstable Sheriff’s Office