Truro’s Payomet Performing Arts Center brings cutting-edge live music to the entire Cape.

Sadly for most of us, one of the best kept secrets for over 25 years is found in the sandy outpost of Truro. Truro is the smallest town on the Cape, and as quiet and secluded portions of the town may be, there is an outpost nestled in the dunes that is even more remote. It is there in the long-buried past of a former Air Force Station, that life springs forward from the dulcet tones of music riding the salt air into the souls of all those lucky enough to have scored a ticket. Payomet Performing Arts Center, at the Highlands Center, in partnership with the Cape Cod National Seashore, is the legacy of Guy Strauss, the original founder who was a professional film and stage actor. As it is not uncommon on the Outer Cape, Strauss, like so many others, relished his time in the welcoming community, loved the natural environment, yet yearned for the creative outlet found in his craft of acting. His passions found a path as he formed a theater company with professional actors and directors, and it was not long before the reviews came in, and then locally and regionally the world began to take note.

Today, Kevin Rice serves as the Artistic Director, who Strauss brought into the fold in 2008. Rice’s background is also rooted in theatrical stage productions where he has acted, written and produced for much of his life. Yet, when tasked with managing the fledgling operation over fifteen years ago, Rice says examination of the balance sheet made one thing abundantly clear: music performances were paying the bills.

“With Guy we did lots of really interesting stuff—outdoor performances of Shakespeare, and several original plays I had written. I started showing films on Friday nights, and then Saturdays were for music. I was a little more ambitious with the music, dedicating Saturdays to it, but by the end of the first year I thought, ‘Wait a minute, it’s possible to run in the black with music more than any other programs,’” Rice recalls. Those music performances have evolved from the very first concert featuring Wellfleet local Patty Larkin, who in addition to her celestial vocals, is also gifted with an extremely generous spirit which helped launch the success of the nonprofit. 

One of the elements that distinguishes Payomet from other cultural organizations which present music performances to audiences across the Cape and Islands is the sheer volume of events hosted by this grassroots entity. Early in his tenure, Rice introduced a Circus Arts program—Cirque by the Sea—with a professional circus troupe that provides circus art classes for kids of all ages. The ensuing Circus Camp now is an accredited summer camp by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and has become an increasingly popular activity for summer kids while also working with many of the local Cape schools through performances and workshops.

Rice says Payomet produces about 60 music concerts throughout the year, including other venues across the Cape, allowing residents and visitors to experience their world-class acts without traveling to the Outer Cape. Acts like Jake Shimabukuro, the renown Hawaiian Ukulele player whose re-interpretive renditions of songs by the Beatles and other contemporary artists captivate audiences worldwide, and the return of Los Lobos with their Latin-American rhythms encouraging even the most introspective audience members to get up and shake their groove thing. The soulfully charged emotion of Ruthie Foster’s delivery of the blues will tap deeply into the souls of those fortunate enough to obtain a ticket, and the sweet Irish tones of Aoife O’Donovan’s ethereal voice will linger above the crashing waves of Highland Light Beach just a few hundred yards away. 

New and upcoming acts like the String Queens captivate with their classical instruments that literally throw down the gauntlet against any rock and roller from the last 70 years, and with John Pizzarelli serenading with tunes from the Broadway stage and the silver screen, and Rosanne Cash with John Leventhal, the classic-loving audiences will get their fill as well. Judy Collins and Mavis Staples confirm the legitimate influence Payomet has to attract artists that have been drawing crowds for seven decades. All this in the sandy little hamlet of Truro. Who knew? 

Julie Craven Wagner is the editor of Cape Cod ART.