Last week, I caught up with one of Greenfield’s creative “power couples,” Sebastian Lockwood and Nanette Perrotte.

Nanette and Sebastian moved to Greenfield in 2001, restoring a 1792 house on Rand Brook. Sebastian , originally from England, is a lifelong storyteller and voice actor. His repertoire includes performances of the “great epics,” including Odysseus, Caesar and Beowulf

Sebastian also created a story based on the life of the Abenaki Chief Passaconaway, who was believed to have traveled though Greenfield and the Rand Brook valley.

Nanette is a jazz singer, music educator and entrepreneur, and was for years a beloved yoga instructor in the region. Her children’s book about the life of Ella Fitzgerald, “Ella the Jazzy Cat,” is available on Amazon.

Prior to COVID, in addition to running their “Creative Cabin” Airbnb, Nanette and Sebastian had a full schedule. Nanette had created a one-woman show based on the life of Ella Fitzgerald, and Sebastian was performing his book of original stories about Hancock, “Tales of the Fox Tavern,” which is available on Audible.

Then came 2020. COVID shut down Nanette’s and Sebastian’s performance schedules, and severely impacted their teaching and other work.

“Lockdown, not being able to perform or teach, forced me to think about what else I could create, ” Nanette recalled. “I just started it experiment and think about what people needed and wanted, being stuck at home.”

The result was LUX Lifestyle, Nanette’s bath and beauty products business. She started selling to friends and neighbors, later expanding to farmers’ markets, online sales (luxlifestyle.co) and retail.

“It was all lessons about packaging,” she said. “I knew I had great products, and people loved them, but out at a farmers’ market, or on a shelf, it has to first catch someone’s eye. It’s a lesson you can apply to anything you create.”

Sebastian was an equal partner in LUX, helping behind the scenes. But just as the light at the end of the COVID tunnel was coming in 2021, disaster struck. Sebastian suffered a pair of strokes that left him with severe memory loss.

Nanette recalls the moment she brought Sebastian home from Monadnock Community Hospital. When they got out of the car, Sebastian, who appeared to be fine physically, exclaimed, “I just can’t believe we live here! I am so lucky!”

The couple’s Airbnb guests, who were outside enjoying the sunset, enthusiastically agreed.

“Our guests thought Sebastian was just being grateful!” Nanette said with a laugh. “They had no idea he actually could not remember a single thing about our home.”

“In the hospital, all I could recall was a cottage in England,” Sebastian added. “I was absolutely thrilled by our house in Greenfield!”

The worst impact of the stroke became evident later; Sebastian had forgotten his stories. His entire livelihood, and over 30 years perfecting his art form, were gone.

But the indefatigable Nanette began to find a way around the problem. Starting with Odysseus, Sebastian’s signature performance, Nanette developed a slideshow of images to accompany the entire 90-minute show and spark Sebastian’s memory as he learned the story again.

“I tell the epics differently now,” he mused. “Honestly, they’re better. They’re coming from a deeper place. Relearning them at the age I am now, I have so much more depth.”

Sebastian has a particular affinity for “The Odyssey,” which is considered the origin story of all Western literature.

“Odysseus has to overcome endless obstacles with strategy,” he reflected. “There is a line in the poem: ‘I want to go home.’ I understand that now in a way I never could have before. We both just wanted to get home.”

Nanette and Sebastian always have new projects in the pipeline. Nanette is creating an audiobook version of her Ella Fitzgerald show, while Sebastian has recently published poetry, and is revising several novels. Sebastian’s performances of Odysseus and other epics are sponsored by the New Hampshire Council for the Humanities.

To contact Sebastian about a performance, please send email to sebastianlockwood88@gmail.com or go to nhhumanities.org/programs/teacher/48/sebastian-lockwood.

Please contact with me ideas for The Greenfield Beat at jesstimm17@gmail.com.

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