Second season of ‘Hearts of New England’ series to premiere in Windham

By Ed Pierce

The second-season premiere of the television series 'Hearts of
New England' will debut at Smitty's Theater in Windham at
6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 27. Much of the show is filmed in
and around Windham and the Lakes Region.
COURTESY PHOTO

Creativity has been the calling card of Justin Fortin since he first chose to become an actor and his dream of creating a television drama filmed in Maine using an all-New England cast became a reality in 2018 with the premiere of the first season “Hearts of New England.” Now Fortin is ready to unveil a second season of the show filmed locally and it will debut at a special event at Smitty’s Theater at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 27 in Windham.

The series airs on Great Falls TV, which can be found when subscribing to Maine Event Films on You Tube. The first season of “Hearts of New England” drew reviews from critics all over the world for its authenticity and Fortin is aiming to sell the series to a major network once he completes five seasons of filming.

“This series has awesome talent from throughout New England,” Fortin said. “People who watch the second season are going to recognize local businesses and many of their friends and neighbors in the background of scenes.”

A lot of the filming for the second season of “Hearts of New England” was shot at locations around Sebago Lake, including at a number of beaches in both Windham and Raymond, and a scene was also completed at the Windham Barber Shop on Roosevelt Trail.

“Hearts of New England” is created, written, and directed by Fortin and tells the story of a soldier returning home to Maine from serving in a war, only to become embroiled in a war at home as he learns that his father is connected to the mob.

Using local talent, Fortin’s cast has grown from a total of six in the show’s first season to now numbering about 20 to 25 speaking roles for the second season.

Gathering the cast for filming again after the end of the first season proved to a significant challenge for Fortin.

“It’s very hard to film a series because you have to get actors to come back,” he said. “For a feature film or a short film completed in a few weeks that's one thing but getting everyone back for a series is much harder.”

Fortin, who owns Maine Event Films, said a lot of the series cast and production crew was found through local theater groups.

“Many of the actors are people who’ve done theater and community plays before,” he said. “But in filming year-round as we do for this series, a lot of people have jobs and it’s tough to get them during the week. We try to film whenever we can and accommodate their schedules.”

According to Fortin, the second season of “Hearts of New England” is much improved over the first one, which featured 10 installment episodes and last aired original episodes in July 2020.

“This second season is so much better because the cast is in sync having worked with each other for a while now and really knowing their characters,” he said. “The performances for this new season are 10 times better.”

He also said viewers of the second season of the show are in for a major surprise this year.

“We’ll throw a curveball at people and a big finish that people won’t be expecting,” Fortin said. “They won’t expect to see this coming.”

Married and the father of five children, Fortin was born Lewiston and attended high school in Poland. He started acting professionally in 2016 after auditioning and landing a role in the film “Paper City Burnout.”

He works as a manager at Walmart in Windham and films “Hearts of New England” when he can fit it into his busy schedule.

Whatever he’s doing with the show is working. It has been honored as a selection for film and television festivals in 50 different countries and in five different states, including in Reno, Nevada, where the first season of the show was awarded “Best Relationship Drama.”

Fortin and the cast have recently gotten back together and are now filming a third season of the series at locations in Windham and other sites in the Lakes Region.

“The project is 100 percent funded and investment is pretty good,” he said.    

The public is cordially invited to attend the local premiere at Smitty’s on Oct. 27 and many of the actors in the cast from both season one and season two are planning to attend the red-carpet event. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at Event Bright.

“It’s going to be a really good time,” Fortin said. “We’re hoping that many people will come out and support local talent. We feature many people from the area in our filming. There are not many premieres in Maine, so this one is going to be special.” <     

Windham Chamber Singers adapt to digital holiday performance

Members of the Windham Chamber Singers directed
by Dr. Richard Nickerson perform songs during 'A
Maine Family Holiday' concert on You Tube. The 
group's annual holiday concert has become a tradition
locally but was forced to switch to digital-only
because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
COURTESY PHOTO

By Daniel Gray

It wasn’t easy to shift from performing their popular “An American Family Holiday” Christmas concert live to streaming a You Tube event, but the Windham Chamber Singers are pleased with the result.

 

In early October, ongoing pandemic restrictions Chamber Singers Director Dr. Richard Nickerson announced the change with the first performance available online Dec. 5.

 

To many in the community, "An American Family Holiday," is a traditional Windham Chamber Singers event that happens every year featuring various holiday songs and guest stars in the Windham High School auditorium. But the pandemic couldn’t stop that yearly tradition, it just led to the concert being performed digitally. And for this year, the concert was renamed "A Maine Family Holiday" to celebrate Maine's bicentennial celebration.

Nickerson said that the project was fun and engaging for himself and the singers.

To pull it off, each student filmed their part separately, and then sent the file to Nickerson to splice them all together. When completed, the result turned out to be a spectacular show with other guest stars spliced into the mix of songs.

During the hour-long video, host Kim Block showcased the Windham Chamber Singers along with special guests John Cariani, Con Fullam, and our own U.S. Senator, Angus King. For musical accompaniments, the Chamber Singers were joined with Daniel Strange and his wife Ashley Liberty, Robyn Hurder and Clyde Alves, Travis James Humphrey, and some former WHS Chamber Singers that lent their voices to the concert. Even the beautiful dancers at Maine State Ballet were included making for a gorgeous show for us at home.

According to Nickerson, all around, it was an amazing performance and a wonderful job of everyone who was involved and added their talents and stories.

A personal favorite song during the whole performance for Nickerson was toward the end with the song “O Holy Night,” with the reason being they had Chamber Singer alumni from all over the globe reach out to sing along. There were former graduates all the way back from 1991 to 2019, for which he was very happy to hear from. Other songs featured in the video include “The Maine Christmas Song,” “Jingle Bells,” “Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming,” and many others.

With the video now topping more than 3,800 views on You Tube and steadily climbing, Nickerson said it was originally intended to only have the video up on the Windham Chamber Singers You Tube channel for a limited time, but he had changed his mind when a snowstorm hit Maine and knocked the
power out of many homes.

Nickerson said that not only were Mainers viewing the stream, but he noticed people from all over the globe were tuning in to watch.

 

"I was monitoring the live feed, and we had people from all over the country watching. People from as far away as Mexico and even people in Europe,” Nickerson said. “It was very exciting to be able to interact with people from literally all over the world."

 

Even though the end results were something truly amazing, Nickerson said performing digitally t isn't something that he and the Windham Chamber Singers would like to continue doing. It was a fun process for them, but it just isn't what the Chamber Singers do. They all love the excitement and joy that comes from a live performance on stage, not exactly staying at home and recording on a laptop or phone.

 

Nickerson said he encourages everyone to watch the video and await the return of live performances by the group.

 

“It's a way to bring the joy of the season,” he said. “Even in a time of restrictions of what we can and can't do, this concert was certainly making lemonade out of lemons. I’ve got a couple irons in the fire for things that we might be able to do next spring, but we’ll have to see. The only thing that is predictable is that things are unpredictable right now.”"

With the holiday concert serving as the Windham Chamber Singers only fundraiser for the whole year, things were a bit different with the introduction of an entirely free video on the internet.

If you would like to donate to the Windham Chamber Singers, they have a website where there are several options of donating. Please visit windhamchambersingers.com for more information. <

Windham Chamber Singers to present ‘An American Family Holiday’ concert online

By Elizabeth Richards

The Windham Chamber Singers holiday show, “An American Family Holiday,” is a much-anticipated community event. This year, the show will go on, virtually.

Dr. Rick Nickerson, Director of Choral Music at Windham High School said that his subject matter presents unique challenges this school year.

“Every teacher had to adapt the way we teach. In music, we were the only ones who had to adjust what we teach, which has been an enormous challenge,” he said.

Because of the pandemic, the popular Windham
Chamber Singers holiday show 'An American 
Family Holiday' will be presented virtually this
year and available on You Tube.
FILE PHOTO

The Chamber Singers have been especially challenging, Nickerson said, since it is an afterschool activity rather than a class. In classes, he said, students can do projects around theory, history, and techniques. They can also use a program called SmartMusic, which allows students to sing along with computerized singers and record their work.

Nickerson said that the Chamber Singers, however, are all about singing together, which is prohibited inside the school. Current guidelines allow for singing outdoors only, masked, spaced 14 feet apart. This year the Chamber Singers, who have traditionally met on Wednesdays from 4 to 7 p.m., have had virtual rehearsals and a couple of rehearsals on the baseball field where they can space out appropriately. The program is important to keep going, not only because of what it provides students musically, but also what it provides them socially, Nickerson said.

The baseball field rehearsal was far from ideal, Nickerson said. Even the wind made it difficult for students to hear each other. But the students were excited to be together and wanted to continue rehearsing that way. For some students who were selected for the group after video auditions in the spring, these rehearsals were the first time they’d been with the whole group in person.

Nickerson acknowledged that the ability to meet outside will change as the weather turns colder. Already, the rehearsals are much shorter than usual so students can be home before it gets too cold. They’re taking things one step at a time, Nickerson said.

“I told them the other night if we keep meeting these challenges head on, eventually when this is over we’re going to be a stronger group, and we’ll realize just how much of everyday life we’ve taken for granted,” he said.

Currently, the group is focused on creating a virtual version of their annual An American Family Holiday concert. For this year only, the concert is being renamed A Maine Family Holiday, and will have a Maine theme, in celebration of the state’s bicentennial.

The 90-minute concert will premiere on the Windham Chamber Singers You Tube channel at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 5. The program will include virtual choirs and much more.

“Now that we’re moving exclusively to video, while it limits what we can do musically, it also opens up some other possibilities,” Nickerson said.

His original brainstorm for the An American Family Holiday concert was to model it after old-time variety shows. A virtual show lends itself well to that format. Guest stars can participate much more easily since no travel is involved, Nickerson said.

Nickerson said they aren’t releasing names of guest performers, since they want the premiere to be full of surprises. “Some of the exciting things that are going to happen the students don’t even know about,” he said.

With a virtual concert, many elements must be ready earlier than for a live concert, since the editing process takes time.

“With a traditional concert we were working towards a specific date. With this, because it’s a video project of this magnitude, we’re going to have lots of different dates we’re working towards,” Nickerson said.

They’ll take it one song at a time, and the editing process will begin in just a couple of weeks, he said.

This concert is typically the Chamber Singers biggest fundraiser. Donation pages will be available for those who wish to contribute to the group towards future needs.

“I don’t know what the spring is going to hold, but eventually down the road we will be back to normal, whatever that normal is,” Nickerson said. “For me, normal just means we can have all the choirs in the choir room singing.”

While this format is certainly not his preference, Nickerson said, “We’re trying to make the best out of a terrible situation.”

 He knows how important the concert is to the community, he added, and has already received phone calls asking if they were going to do something. Nickerson said he’s very excited about what they are putting together.

“It’s going to be great. It’s not only going to celebrate our town, we’re looking forward to celebrating this great state of Maine,” he said.<