At the Aquinnah Town Hall on Saturday, more than a hundred attendees were scrambling for a view of the colorfully lit stage, tapping the shoulders of the Islanders they recognized to catch up, and running into neighbors they haven’t seen in awhile. But all conversation and activity came to a halt when Kate Taylor’s voice rang through the space from where she stood at the entrance of the hall: “All you need is love,” she sang.
Laura Jordan echoed Taylor, singing the phrase of the famed 1967 song by the Beatles, “All You Need Is Love.”
As more voices joined in from the other performers, Taylor and Jordan, the organizers of the annual Aquinnah Variety Show, made their way to the stage. They announced the event as a talent showcase of Islanders, young and old.
The lineup included music ensembles, theater performances, and a quilting group called the Hookers, as well as magic tricks. While there was no prompt given to the performers, Jordan said the themes of “love, loss, and life showed up.”
“This community was shaken by loss yet again this winter,” Taylor said to the crowd. “By expressing and feeling this loss, we hope to ease the pain together.”
Saturday’s event was the third annual Aquinnah Variety Show that Taylor and Jordan have organized. Each year, they’ve brought new acts to the forefront. This time around, the pair hosted expert performers, who know the glare of the bright stage lights well, alongside brand-new ones. For some, the Aquinnah showcase was their first opportunity to perform in front of a local crowd.
The younger generation of the Island graced the stage for the majority of the night. Children from local elementary and middle schools raised their voices in song, collaborated with each other, and danced in unison.
Elda Berlin, Ava Dubno, Josey Persinko, Linen and Poppy Sykes, and Willow Bishop sang Taylor Swift and Renée Rapp tunes, along with other popular songs, combined with passionately acted skits.
Wren Forté and Zuzu Sauer danced to Island musician Lexie Roth’s clear voice singing “My Immortal” by Evanescence, which carries a message of healing and grief.
John Forté, a celebrated musician and beloved Islander and family man, passed away in January. Wren, his daughter, glided and cartwheeled with Sauer, who lost her brother, Waylon, in a car accident in 2023. Waylon, who was a junior in high school at the time of his passing, has been honored since through annual fundraising basketball tournaments. Roth sang the 2003 song behind the pair. The lyrics read: “When you cried, I’d wipe away all of your tears. When you’d scream, I’d fight away all of your fears. And I held your hand through all of these years. And you still have all of me.”
Jemima James, Roth, and Jessie Pinnick performed a song about an unruly but loveable dog for the crowd, eliciting some knowing chuckles from the audience. James wrote the song, called “Old Dog,” with artist Colin Ruel last year.
A drone instrument was demonstrated by Isaac Taylor, along with improvised vocal accompaniment.
A magician, Reece Robinson, read the minds of audience members, much to their awe. And a Mother’s Day shoutout came in the surprising form of a guitar-playing local father, who performed an improvisational song. “My wife makes me watch the video of my child’s birth every year,” he joked in his lyrics about Mother’s Day, which was celebrated on Sunday.
The night was rife with activity. Tears were shed, laughter reverberated across the room, and children darted in front of the stage, dodging attendees sitting in the chairs and followed closely by Jordan’s Icelandic Sheepdog named Glory.
Poetic lyrics from a song that the former Aquinnah town clerk, Gabriella Camilleri, wrote and sang at the second annual Aquinnah Variety show were also read by Kathie Olsen and Carolyn Feltz. Camilleri passed away from cancer in September.
“Life is growth. Life is movement. Like waves upon the shore, ever fluid,” Olsen read. “Sometimes crashing on stones that can break, but then peaceful and calm; still as a lake.”