Midcoast Maine is home to numerous community and semi-professional theater groups.

As a rule, musicals sell more seats than straight shows, but most companies want to do at least one non-singing production. It can prove difficult for lovers of dramatic theater, and those actors who either cannot sing or prefer straight productions, to find such a venue.

In September of 2003, the Heartwood Regional Theater Company, based in Damariscotta for the past seven years, was founded. Director, playwright, musician and set designer Griff Braley has always preferred “meatier,” serious material that is just a mite darker, just a bit more thought-provoking.

Together with his wife, Joy, the two have built a credible, respected theater company known for its challenging material and gifted actors.

When Braley began thinking about the kind of theater he wanted, he drew inspiration from the A.R.T. American Repertory Theater at Harvard model of new American theater and redesigned classics. For Braley, art is about effecting change; being in a company that affects your culture is as important as creating a connection with each audience.

The audience members connect with characters in a show and the issues and situations presented by them. Audiences convey their thoughts with one another, to the actors and to the Braleys.

In its first 10 years, Heartwood has presented 70 productions, which have included musicals, mostly those of Steven Sondheim including “Sweeney Todd,” “A Little Night Music,” ”Sunday in the Park with George,” and “Into the Woods.”

One of the missions of the company, from the start, was to “promote and explore the theater arts for youth and adults in Midcoast Maine. To provide training, discipline and support; challenge and motivate young actors while focusing on unity of the ensemble of each production.”

Braley began working with adults in 1999 when he brought his original play, “Zeno's Arrow” to the stage at the Lincoln Theater. But, youth, he knew about working with youth. Braley spent nine years as theater artist-in-residence at Wiscasset High School while teaching sophomore and senior honors English.

Part of the programming he created for the theater program at WHS also included co-writing plays with his theater students.

In the fall of 2006, Braley was recruited by Lincoln Academy to create the same programming he had at WHS, with the intention of making the school an arts magnet/school/program. He was also asked to set up a theater space that would be used as classroom, shop, theater and assembly space. That space became the Poe Theater on the Lincoln Academy campus.

“I saw how Heartwood and the program at Lincoln Academy would dovetail nicely,” Braley said.

When he isn't teaching theater or film, he is working on restructuring Heartwood's youth outreach program, “Heartwood Goes to School.” At the outset of Heartwood's founding, there were youth summer theater camps.

But, Braley had the idea of taking his WHS programing to all the schools in the Midcoast, where in some cases, theater departments are nonexistent. At the height of the Heartwood youth program with schools, the company was partnered with 21 schools.

Heartwood board members helped out by being the liasions of the company. Three-to-four years ago that number dropped to 15 and, in 2013, 12-15. Going forward, Braley plans to focus on the schools in AOS 93, which includes Damariscotta, Nobleboro, Bristol, South Bristol, Jefferson, etc. And, to bring the youth to the Poe Theater, because the theater program is based at Lincoln Academy.

“It's been a collaboration in the purest sense,” Braley said of Lincoln Academy and Heartwood Regional Theater Company. “Everyone has won. The students and the school have won because we have been able to do things in the space (Poe Theater) and give the Academy programming. We are now working at the middle school level.

“Heartwood rents the space for its shows and contributes the costume stock, lighting, sound equipment and projectors for school productions. It's like having a resident theater company. I've had good administrative and parental support here.”

The Braleys noted that they had considerable community support as well.

“To develop an accepted presence is an achievement in an area where there are multiple theater companies,” Joy Braley said. “We are an accepted company and part of the community.”

In this business partnership, Griff Braley embodies the artistic and is very pleased with the quality of Heartwood's productions.

“We've done two to three large original pieces and really challenging material,” he said. “We've pushed pretty hard.”

Joy Braley is the marketing guru. Since Heartwood’s first year, she has been tracking attendance data for all shows in a database. She knows who and how many people come to musicals, to the straight shows, who comes to the youth shows, who supports all or a combination of shows.

And, today, she says attendance numbers to the musicals and straight shows are “within shooting distance.”

“We have amazing family and foundation support,” she said. “We listen to the advice and comments of the audiences. In the last three or four years our marketing has really kicked in. We’re seeing exciting growth in our regional audience.”

She also noted how far they have come in focusing on being “regional.” The company draws from all areas of the Midcoast with its actor pool, from students to adults. Heartwood's audience travels from Waterville to Belfast, Damariscotta and south. And many of those audience members are serious theater lovers.

“What we want a season to end up looking like is one musical, one original piece and one reworked classic. Everything doesn't have to be dark, but everything will be pretty serious,” Griff Braley said. “I think there will be enough cross-cutting to keep most people happy.

“We did ‘The House of Bernarda Alba,’ a very serious straight show in the middle of summer and had close to 700 audience members, almost as many as Macbeth. There are audiences that want to see something like that and I want Heartwood to be the theater company that draws them.”

“I know we will sacrifice some audiences for others. We have to be true to our artistic vision and let the audience grow or fall as it will,” Joy Braley said. “He pushes for the artistic, I monitor the audiences and we duke it out and come up with a season.”

Audiences and actors take note: the new season has been announced on the company's website, www.heartwoodtheater.org.