Mr. John Sullivan, former Barnstable High School’s Drama Club director and art teacher, is continuing to pursue his creative passions with Quahog Entertainment. Sullivan and his partner Andrew Rapo, BHS graduate of 1986, are currently working on something that has never been done: an app show.

When Sullivan retired in 2010, he was trying to figure out what he wanted to do. “I came up with an idea called Quahog Corner, which was a show with a bunch of characters, which it is, and drawing lessons, which it is.” Rapo had an idea for an app with games on it. “As we talked, our ideas meshed together and it became Quahog Corner, the App Show,” said Sullivan.

The Quahog Corner app for all Apple devices is targeted for children. There are coloring book pages and games, as well as short 22-minute shows with human characters. “If you have a child who likes Spongebob and they want to go out and buy the game and the coloring pages and the comic book, now everything is rolled up into one. This is so new that we’re experimenting as we go,” said Sullivan.

The shows in the app are about a man named Captain Salty “who basically runs the place so we meet him every show and different things — unusual things — happen.” As a sailor, Captain Salty has collected things from all over the world and meets characters like a ghost pirate named Red Beard and a ship in a bottle. There is also a Magical Mistro who brings the show alive with his gift of music.

Sullivan and Rapo have been working on filming these shows since August, but have only filmed in their studio a total of eight times. “A lot of it is because there are a lot of special effects with it, so it takes a while to do,” commented Sullivan.

The cast members, most of whom are local faces, do a lot of green screen work. There is a police officer on the show who is played by Barnstable’s own officer Bryan Morrison, and two assistants on the show named Max, played by another BHS graduate Christopher Houghton, and Bob, who is played by the Barnstable Assistant Drama Club Director Matt Kohler. Sullivan appears in the show as Professor Ticonderoga who teaches drawing lessons, and Rapo plays the Musical Mistro. Rapo also writes all the codes for the app.

Also featured in the show are two kids played by juniors Johnny Robinson and Jenny Griffin. “Johnny was in my last show The Reluctant Dragon and I remembered him as a good comedian, which is something we needed in the boy,” said Sullivan.

Sullivan sought advice from Kohler for a girl to be in the show. “When he recommended Jenny I immediately said yes. I remembered her from a show this summer.”

Sullivan and Rapo had previously formed Quahog Entertainment, which is now producing Quahog Corner. Although they have designed apps through Quahog Entertainment before, it was for smaller scale features, like a toilet training app. Quahog Corner is by far the biggest task they’ve ever taken on. “I’m probably spending as much time or more than I did with the drama club!” said Sullivan.

Griffin and Robinson have both had wonderful experiences working on this app show. “It’s been a really rewarding experience,” said Griffin. “I get a feel for what it’s like to be behind the camera; it’s so different than theater.”

“The acting in general is silly and always fun,” said Robinson. “I think it’ll be something that children will become addicted to. Healthily.”

Quahog Corner has recently been released and Sullivan hopes to continue adding to the app show once things take off.

For more information, check out the website at http://quahogcorner.com/.