By Courtney Oldwyn

Journal reporter

“One Blue Tarp”, an award winning comedy about property rights begins Feb. 19 at the San Juan Community Theatre. Written by east coast playwright Travis Baker, “One Blue Tarp” was recently named Best Maine Play in the prestigious Clauder New England Playwright Competition presented by the Portland Stage Company.

“I like that the playwright was able to , in a lighthearted way, talk about an issue that usually drives people into two different camps,” said Joy Van Camp, the play’s director. “But he was able to focus more on the human side of the question, not so much the logical side and in a feeling – based way. It’s not threatening, it’s an invitation to think about these things in a more human way.”

The play will be in the Gubleman room which is a much smaller venue. “It’s quite intimate, you get to be cozy,” said Van Camp. “Welcome to Maine!”

“One Blue Tarp” opens this Friday, Feb. 19 and runs until March 5, at 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets are adults $19, students $10 and RUSH $5.

Though it’s set in Maine, this charming comedy may ring true to many Northwesterners too. At it’s heart is the rights of property owners – in this case, owner David Stillman who believes he has the right to have a big pile of junk under a blue tarp in his front yard even if it is an eyesore to tourists and his wife, according to the San Juan Community Theatre website.

“Everybody has their feelings about ‘should you be able to tell someone what color they’re allowed to paint their house?’. This play is able to explore those questions, and there is no right answer, its just what people decide,” said Van Camp. “You start getting into matters of taste and its difficult to get people to agree and that’s very familiar to people in our community, and it will probably never be decided.”

“One Blue Tarp” is part of the community theatre’s Off the Rock series which will cover topics relevant to today and/or focus on unique forms of theatrical storytelling in order to offer audiences a stepping off point for community discussion and exploration. Town Administrator Duncan Wilson will be on hand after the Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon showings as part of a panel discussion facilitated by Tony Vivenzio. The panel will include Wilson, Van Camp and some of the actors. The goal, says Van Camp, is to talk about how the playwright presented property rights in the play and to maintain the light hearted aspects of it, not to end up in a public hearing type atmosphere.

This is the first West Coast production of “One Blue Tarp” thanks to On Book! producer Penelope Haskew who was granted the play’s rights by Baker and first brought it to Friday Harbor as part of the Reader’s Theatre series last year.

The cast is made up of actors ranging from ten years old to over 60. “There’s a light heartedness to the play and really nice characters. The actors do a nice job of showing that humanity,” said Van Camp.