Editor’s note: The current run of “Dog Park: The Musical!” is sold out. Join the wait list at bit.ly/CA_DogPark.
Have you ever looked at your pup and wondered what in the world he is thinking? Well, the canines starring in longtime Vineyarder Shelagh Hackett’s production, “Dog Park: The Musical!” have all the dialogue. At its heart, this intriguing show is about community and connection.
The whimsical show runs from Nov. 13 to 15 at the M.V. Playhouse. But it all started in 2020, right before COVID hit and splintered us apart. Hackett explains, “I’d been walking Chaka, my then 1-year-old, energetic Rhodesian Ridgeback, on the beach all winter. But my hip had been getting worse and worse. I got it checked out, and it was evident I needed a new one. They told me I couldn’t keep walking on the beach until they replaced my hip.”
Hackett continues, “I had to figure out how to exercise Chaka, and someone said, ‘Take her to the dog park in Vineyard Haven.’” The idea didn’t sit well with Hackett: “I didn’t want to. It reminded me of when my kids were babies, and I wasn’t one of those social moms who liked going to the playground, hanging out with other moms, and talking about the babies. I was more of a loner, and I felt the same way about the dog park. If you go there, there are other grown-ups, and you have to even say hi to people.”
Hackett initially kept to herself. “It was pretty easy not to be too social. Gradually, after months of going, I got to know people. They were cool and interesting.” When Hackett went in for her hip surgery, there were complications, and she was away from the dog park for longer than anyone expected: “The people at the dog park thought I’d be away for a few days or a week. I didn’t come back for a long time, and everybody was really worried. When I finally returned, everyone was still so concerned. I realized you start to care about people when you least expect it.”
It wasn’t just Hackett who made friends; Chaka did, too: “It was fun to watch the dogs interact and see their different personalities. Some were troublemakers, and some were the ones that all the other dogs loved. I would say to everybody, ‘I’m going to write a play about the dog park. The dogs will talk, and the humans won’t.’ The more I talked about it, the more I realized that if you’re going to keep talking about it, you have to do it.”
In 2022, Hackett decided to go all out. “I thought it would be fun and challenging if it were a musical, because I’d never written music before. During COVID, I taught myself to play piano using chords. So I started fiddling around writing songs.”
The project stalled for a while. Then one day Hackett, a production assistant, house manager, and performer at Circuit Arts, and Brian Ditchfield, its executive director, talked on the beach about starting things and not finishing them. They encouraged each other to complete their projects.
About two years ago, there was an informal reading with her fellows at a Circuit Arts dinner party: “When everyone got together and read ‘Dog Park,’ it was so exciting for me in a way that few things had been. Everyone was into reading it, and I got helpful feedback.” Now it’s a full 45-minute musical that explores love, companionship, attraction, and the search for belonging.
Hackett notes, “Going to the dog park was never anything I would ever do. But because I had to walk Chaka, I had to open myself up to it. The show is about dogs and people, and who we choose to love.”
“Dog Park: The Musical!” runs from Nov. 13 to 15 at the M.V. Playhouse. For tickets and waitlist, go to bit.ly/CA_DogPark.
