Shelagh Hackett is someone you want to know. Known for her warm spirit and talent, she has long graced many Island stages as an actress, singer, and improv comedian. She likewise has touched countless children as an inspiring theater educator. Over the years, Hackett has built a community that sustains her, invigorating all her endeavors. “I love to surround myself with people who are fabulous, vibrant, inspirational, and good at what they do. I feel like it infuses me with energy.”
Hackett first discovered her home in the theater at a young age, growing up in Newton. She worked up the nerve to audition for “The Pirates of Penzance” in sixth grade, winning a spot in the chorus. “It was one of those life-changing experiences. I loved the whole process: rehearsing, the makeup, camaraderie. That’s where I found my niche. I was a shy kid, not good at sports, and kind of nerdy. Theater made me feel like I fit in and saved me.” Hackett continues, “As I got cast in bigger parts, I gained more confidence. And my parents encouraged me to follow my dream.”
Hackett attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and immersed herself in the New York City theater world. “It was like, ‘Bam, here you are.’ I loved it.” Besides performing at Tisch, Hackett sang at clubs in Greenwich Village and participated in the downtown experimental theater scene.
Feeling the need to take a break from New York, Hackett came to the Vineyard in 1987 through the early 1990s. She had spent time on-Island as a child, visiting family who lived here. Hackett performed in musical revues at the Atlantic Connection, a club where the arcade now is on Circuit Avenue in Oak Bluffs, and at the Hot Tin Roof. She performed at the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse and Island Theater Workshop.
Hackett briefly returned to New York, before leaving to serve as the head of the music and drama department and a teacher at the Portledge School in Oyster Bay, Long Island. “While I’d loved living in Manhattan, I did not love living on Long Island, which drove me to move back to Martha’s Vineyard. Long Island to me seemed like a wannabe Vineyard, which made me long for it and really miss what I had here.”
Since returning in 1995, Hackett has performed across a wide range of art forms, though she took time off to raise her children. She’s appeared in cabarets, musical revues, and theater, including “Dancing at Lughnasa,” “Hamlet,” and the title role in “Julius Caesar.” Hackett has sung in bands, including in the Magnificent Ambersons from 2000 to 2002 and in the Day Trippers, a popular local Beatles tribute band, beginning in 2011. In 2014, Hackett, Ken Romero, Paul Munafo, and Molly Conole launched their popular “Wicked Winter Musical Revue,” in which they sang, acted, and danced through a new program each year at the M.V. Playhouse.
Hackett is also drawn to improv, performing years ago with Wimp at the Wintertide coffee house and later with TBD Improv, which performs in various locations around the Island. She adores the art form. “Improv is really playtime for grownups. When working with the games and exercises, you feel your brain lifting weights. The more you do it, the better you get. It’s scary in a way that theater isn’t, because you must come up with things very fast. It’s never happened before, nor is it going to happen again. When you’re on a roll and playing with other people, including the audience, it’s the most fun you can possibly have.”
Recently, Hackett appeared in two of Abby Bender’s genre-defying productions, and she has once again participated in Circuit Arts’ live radio play of “A Christmas Carol,” from Dec. 18 to 21, (broadcast on MVY on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24).
Hackett also shares her passion for theater with young people. She initially taught and directed at Island Theatre Workshop alongside Lee Fierro and Mary Payne, beginning in the late 80s, and with the M.V. Playhouse summer theater camp in the mid-1990s. From 2005 to 2018, Hackett directed school productions at the Oak Bluffs School and is currently co-director of Circuit Art’s Martha’s Vineyard Children’s Theater Camp. “I feel like teaching augments and adds to any kind of performing I would ever do. I never want to stop. The energy that kids have gives me energy. When you watch kids work together and support each other, it’s really inspiring.”
Performance isn’t Hackett’s only creative outlet. She began painting in 2022 with her painting partner, Gretchen Baer, an artist who grew up on the Vineyard. Recovering from major surgery, Hackett says, “Gretchen got me to pick up a paintbrush. It saved my life. Painting was something I thought I would never even try. It was healing, the mixing of the colors and figuring out the shapes, and no one telling me it was right or wrong or how to do it.” Baer started posting their work on social media, and Hackett recalls, “I heard feedback from people who were inspired by my being such a novice and enjoying it so much that they started pursuing it. That was a real pleasure.”
Hackett also continues to teach herself piano, something she pursued during the COVID-19 pandemic, and recently took up the ukulele. Regarding all her artistic expressions, Hackett says, “I lean toward melancholy. I think it’s my Irish soul. And when I get to sing, act, play the piano, paint, or play the ukulele, it makes me feel better about myself and my life.”
Hackett particularly thrives on collaborating with others. “I’m glad I’m here and doing cool things. I really love what I get to do and the people I work with. I wouldn’t change the creative family I’ve surrounded myself with for anything. I think community is what it’s all about. On Martha’s Vineyard, we are fortunate because it’s so strong here.”
Shelagh also plays killer ukulele.