Dinner program at the TCA tells the Titanic's sad story

For Margaret and Mark Hyre, it was love at first sight, love that has manifested itself in the couple's five grown sons as well as a shared devotion for music and theater.

"An Evening on Titanic" is the Hyres' latest adventure. The program, set for the TCA stage on April 29, tells the story of the ill-fated ocean liner against the backdrop of the captain's dinner on the night of the disaster, April 14, 1912.

While the sinking of the Titanic goes back more than a century, the story of the show is just 4 years old. And somewhere in between is Margaret and Mark's story.

"I grew up in Chicago," Margaret said. "When Mark moved to Chicago, he began attending my church."

Margaret was a member of the Marquette Manor Baptist Church in Downer's Grove. Mark heard her singing solos and it was "love at first sight."

She isn't kidding about it, either, she said.

"We had our first date on February 25, he asked me to marry him on March 25 and we got married on August 25," she said. "We've always been dramatic."

Whether that was Mark's background in acting--he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre Performance from Penn State in 1984--or Margaret's love for vocal music, it's hard to say. But the couple has been married 32 years and continue to work together in various community theatre projects, particularly since moving to Tecumseh in 2007. Their most recent adventure--playing Captain Smith and Molly Brown for their Titanic evening--started out as a one-time gig for the couple. It has evolved into something much more meaningful.

"Mark was invited to play Captain E.J. Smith for a Titanic dinner a local bed and breakfast was hosting," Margaret said. "He invited me to join him. It was an 11-course dinner and they were looking for a singer and actor to be the captain and do some segments between courses."

The couple came up with some music and dialogue and it was a hit. The next year, when they were invited back, they wrote some material for it. By the third year, she said, "we did our own thing."

That "thing" became "An Evening on Titanic." They set the dinner in the context of the captain's dinner the night the Titanic struck the iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland. They added music, fashions, and historically accurate information on the Titanic, its passengers, and its final voyage, all told using more than 100 slides, and through interactions with each other and guests. Their script is meticulously researched with footnotes showing their sources, and they tell the stories of many passengers, from first class millionaires to immigrants who bunked in steerage. They also have incorporated music into the show, including "Alexander's Ragtime Band," which is from the era and was played on the ship. Margaret also performs "My Heart Will Go On."

"When we went to that first show, we had absolutely no idea where this would take us," she said.

Mark said he was drawn to acting from the time he played the role of the Cowardly Lion in a grade-school production of "The Wizard of Oz." He continued to work in community theatre after college and when he and Margaret moved to Tecumseh, Mark began auditioning for Croswell productions. Margaret, who also had a love of performing, followed her husband in 2010, after their sons were pretty much grown. The Hyres' sons all have been involved in theater productions with their parents, some as actors and others as techs or in other capacities over the years, she said. In 2012, Hyre started a musical group, Ear Candy Sings, a women's trio which has performed locally and regionally, although its schedule has been somewhat limited since the pandemic, she said.

The couple has really gotten into the spirit of the characters they portray.

"Mark really loves to portray Captain Smith," Margaret said. "He is really into the role, so much so that he ordered an authentic uniform from the U.K."

An evening tuxedo also is part of the wardrobe, and also was special ordered for authenticity, Margaret said.

As a U.S. Navy veteran who was stationed aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, Mark understands Captain Smith's affinity for the sea and brings that experience to his role. The couple has done a few promotional videos available on YouTube in which they play their characters. One of Mark's gives the viewers a bit of history on Captain Smith, including how he ended up at the helm of the Titanic.

Margaret, who plays socialite Margaret "Molly" Brown, is a stickler for details as well and she wants to make sure Brown's story is told and told accurately.

"After Margaret died, two journalists wrote wildly fictionalized accounts of her life, which became the basis for the musical," Margaret said. "Almost nothing in that story of her life is true. She was never even called Molly when she was alive. I want to tell the true story about her life because she was an amazing woman on her own merits."

The program is "entertaining and educational," Margaret said, and the Hyres work hard to perfect every aspect. Their script has been copyrighted by the Library of Congress. They practice constantly, mostly on weekends since Mark is employed full-time as the payroll manager at Amcor in Ann Arbor.

"Probably every Saturday morning, we run the whole show up at the Big Boy in Tecumseh," Margaret said. "We eat our breakfast and run through the show."

Since their research on the Titanic started and they fine-tuned their show, the couple have become Titanic aficionados of sorts, although their sons might consider them obsessed with the history of the ship and its passengers. They have been to conventions, read books, talked with groups. Margaret said they have seen every movie and documentary and visited a number of locations dedicated to the Titanic, as well as the Denver home and Long Island gravesite of Margaret "Molly" Tobin Brown, who died in 1932.

"There is a Titanic memorial in Marine City for all the passengers that were traveling to Michigan," Margaret said. "We've been several times because they also used to have the builder's model of the Titanic."

She said the model has been relocated to Pennsylvania, which has been added to the Hyres' list of places they hope to perform their show.

One of the survivors Margaret discovered during her research was an Adrian Dominican Sister, Anna Kelly, also known as Sister Patrick Joseph Kelly. She was 20 when she left Ireland to come to the U.S. She died in 1969 and is buried in the cemetery on the campus of the Adrian Dominicans.

"We were so excited when we found out about her a few years ago," Margaret said. "It is so special when you find a local connection."

The research has been eye-opening and Titanic questions are common on programs like "Jeopardy!" When she sees one, Margaret will post it on social media. For example, on Facebook last Tuesday, she posted "Jeopardy had another 'Titanic' question on the show last week. Do you know the answer? 'Now a museum, the Denver house of this famous survivor is built of very sinkable stone.'" Of course, the answer is "Who is Molly Brown?" and Margaret can even point to a YouTube video of herself at that landmark, dressed as the unsinkable socialite and social activist.

Margaret and Mark constantly work on the show, perfecting every aspect, incorporating as much history and music as possible in the 90-minute performance. They already are booking shows in other communities and Margaret is excited by the prospect.

"No one else is doing this," she said. "Never in my wildest dreams could I have thought it would turn into this. We've worked really hard on it--it's so different from what we've done in the past. And we are really enjoying ourselves."

Tickets for the show are $75 each. This is a fund-raiser for the TCA and as of Tuesday, only 16 tickets remain. The show includes a cocktail hour with appetizers and a seven-course meal prepared by 3 Dudes & Dinner, all part of the evening. There also will be displays and a silent auction set up in the lobby of the TCA. The evening begins at 5 p.m., with curtain time at 6 p.m.

Follow the Hyres on social media.
On the web: captainsmithandmollybrown.com/
On Facebook: www.facebook.com/CaptainSmithandMollyBrown
On Instagram: www.instagram.com/captainsmithandmollybrown/