By Ava Malamut
A proud Wayland resident and recently retired father of three, Mark Peter Hughes is proof that you can be creative and analytical at the same time.
A former algebra teacher and healthcare analyst, as well as longtime guitarist in a local band, Hughes created “Lemonade Mouth,” a young adult novel turned Disney Channel hit.
“Even today, all these years later, it comes up,” Hughes said about Lemonade Mouth. “It was a book that ended up having an impact.”
Inspired by both “High School Musical” and “The Breakfast Club,” the film follows five high school students who meet in detention and form a music group to connect.
Hughes’ youngest daughter, Zoe Hughes, 23, was a student at Happy Hollow Elementary School when the film premiered on the Disney Channel.
“At the time, I was in fifth grade. I would show up in my fedora and strut down the halls because my dad was famous, and it was awesome,” Zoe Hughes said. “We got to go on set and meet the cast. For a little kid who loves Disney Channel, there’s nothing more special.”
Zoe Hughes said her dad follows his passion and isn’t afraid to pivot.
“He always prioritizes family, having fun, making an impact, and actually caring about what you do,” Zoe Hughes said. “I just really appreciate how nothing is mundane. In his view, everything has joy if you let it – that’s a way I want to live my life.”
Growing up in Barrington, R.I., Hughes has loved music for as long as he can remember. He bought his first guitar on a whim in his junior year of high school.
After graduating from the University of Rochester in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in engineering, Hughes formed a band called Exhibit A with Andy McKenna, his roommate Tim Spooner, and friend Kevin McGurn, after seeing McKenna’s newspaper ad looking for people to play music with. In 1992, McKenna moved to Japan, and Hughes switched careers after getting his masters in Public Health from UMass Amherst.
Hughes and his wife moved to Wayland in June 1997, needing a bigger space than their Brighton apartment to raise their first child, Evan. McKenna invited Hughes to play music with people McKenna “had just started jamming with,” and soon they started a band.
“This group quickly evolved into what the Church Ladies now are, and we’ve been a band ever since,”Hughes said. “We’ve been connected with each other for going on 30 years — Andy, Tim, and I for closer to 40. It’s a group of fun, kind people I’m proud to be a part of.”
Hughes said some of his favorite projects include songs “Freakalicious” and “Cotton Candy,” as well as a five-track zombie musical they’d put together during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“He has enormous creativity. So he’s always constantly thinking and tossing out new ideas,”said McKenna, who also plays guitar in The Church Ladies, said.
Shortly after joining The Church Ladies, Hughes’ wanted to take a creative risk and decided to write young adult fiction. He started with “I Am the Wallpaper” in 2005, which was a finalist in the Delacorte Press Young Adult Novel Competition. The novel follows 13-year-old Floey Packer, who decides to reinvent herself while her popular older sister Lillian is away, but her plans are derailed when her diary is posted online.
While he would later branch into young adult science fiction with “A Crack in the Sky” in 2010,
Hughes is best known for “Lemonade Mouth,” a 2007 young adult novel that became a Disney Channel movie in 2011. Filming took place in Albuquerque, N.M., despite the book taking place in Rhode Island.
“The book is also weirder than the movie,” Hughes added, though he clarified that the film was close in its adaptation.
McKenna said he’ll never forget seeing the film for the first time at Wayland Middle School.
“It was very emotional, seeing that come to life like that,” he said.
Now in retirement, Hughes said he is looking forward to more house renovations, travel, reading, and potentially a return to teaching middle school.
“I’m about as happy as I’ve ever been,” he said. “I’m at this really happy moment where I get to decide what I actually want to do next.”
