Bay Street Theater Announces Its First Ever Intern Production

Bay Street Theater and Sag Harbor Center for the Arts is pleased to announce the first ever summer intern production, OBAMA-OLOGY by Aurin Squire, directed by Bay Street's Directing/Producing intern Shea King and starring Bay Street Theater's 2018 Acting Apprentices. This production will run as the first show ever directed, produced, designed, and acted entirely by the summer intern company at Bay Street Theater. Performances run from August 9 - 11, 2018, with twilight performances at 4 pm. Tickets are $12 or $10 for students (available at the Box Office only, with student ID.)

In OBAMA-OLOGY, African-American college graduate Warren is hired by the 2008 Obama campaign and lands in the streets of East Cleveland. Somewhere between knocking on doors, fending off cops, and questioning his own racial and sexual identity, he learns that changing society isn't as easy as he imagined. OBAMA-OLOGY is a compelling exploration of life on a political campaign.

OBAMA-OLOGY is a recent work by playwright Aurin Squire (Don't Smoke in Bed, NBC's This Is Us.) Other members of the creative team include Bay Street Theater interns Madeline Dozat (Scenic Designer), Meredith Platt (Associate Scenic Designer/Scenic Change Artist), Blaine Shepherd (Costume Designer), Kyli Mikai Warner (Associate Costume Designer), Ethan Sepa (Lighting Designer/Projections Designer), Joseph Fisher (Associate Lighting Designer/Master Electrician), Anthony Lefebvre (Associate Projections Designer), Maria-Ray Ossino (Technical Director), Alex Brock (Sound Designer), Katie Wasicko (Wardrobe Supervisor), Lindsay Hearon (Prop Designer/Props Master), Antonio Ribeiro(Master Carpenter), and Terysa Malootian (Stage Manager/Production Manager). Other interns working on the production include Ally Gray(Associate Producer), Salvatore Casto (Dramaturge), Megan Turner (House Manager), Carlisle Shelson (Box Office) and Phillip Young (Marketing Director).

OBAMA-OLOGY stars Bay Street Theater's first ever acting apprentices Anthony Sims as Warren, Cici Koueth as Cece/Barbara/Ensemble, Lewis Elliott as Sam/Ensemble, and Kara Arena as Laura/Ensemble.

"This year, Bay Street has greatly expanded our summer internship program, offering our interns new educational and professional training programs as part of their experience here," says Bay Street Artistic Director Scott Schwartz, "The centerpiece of this newly enhanced program is a production that is completely created and run by our intern company. It is a significant opportunity for them to continue to develop their skills, and an exciting chance for our audience to be introduced to the thrilling next generation of artists and theater practitioners who are a part of the Bay Street family this summer."

Aurin Squire is an award-winning playwright, journalist, multimedia artist, and current resident of New York City. Squire is a Julliard graduate and has also worked as a reporter for publications like ESPN, The Miami Herald, and Chicago Tribune. His dark comedy To Whom It May Concern won New York LGBT theatre awards for best play, best playwright, and best actor before being optioned and remounted off-Broadway to critical acclaim at the Arclight Theatre. Squire also wrote Dreams of Freedom, the multimedia installation video about Jewish immigrants in the 20th century for the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. "Dreams" won 3 national museum awards and is in the permanent exhibit at NMAJH. In 2013, his drama Freefalling was produced at Barrington Stage Company and won the 2013 Fiat Lux Award (Let There Be Light) from the Catholic Church's Theatre Conference. In 2014, Squire won the grand prize in the InspiraTO Theatre's International Play Festival in Toronto (largest theatre festival in Canada) for Freefalling. His plays have been produced at venues like Abingdon Theatre, ArcLight Theatre, Ars Nova, Barrington Stage Company, Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX), Cherry Lane, Lincoln Center Lab, National Hispanic Cultural Center. Squire works as a video writer/producer for media organizations like Learn Liberty. He has also worked as a journalist at publications like The New Republic, Talking Points Memo, and Take Part. Squire has worked as a writer for the new CBS political satire BrainDead, the legal drama The Good Fight and the family drama This is Us.

Shea King is an associate member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC) and holds an MFA in directing from the University of Idaho.
Most recently, Shea directed a reading of Lauren Gunderson's Natural Shocks as a part of her national campaign of theater against gun violence. Shea's reading was the sole reading representing the state of Idaho and it starred Kelly Quinnett. In February 2018, Shea directed a concert reading of Steve Yockey's To Tokyo and the Moon. This reading was a commission from the National Playwriting Program and The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. This winter, Shea is directing at The Rude Mechanicals Theatre, in Tri-cities Washington.

He has directed with Redwood Curtain Theatre in Humboldt County. His first production with them, in 2016, was Five Lesbians Eating a Quiche by Evan Linder and Andrew Hobgood. The production was critically acclaimed and broke the box office record for most tickets sold and is still the highest grossing, non-musical, production in the company's history. Shea has also worked on several new play workshops and staged readings for the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.

Anthony Sims is a professional actor, director, playwright, and teaching artist. His favorite credits include Joseph Garcin in No Exit, Macbeth in Macbeth, Jesus in Godspell, and many more. He is a co-leader of the Black Theater Ensemble at Western Carolina University. He also recently taught the Classical Company Class, Acting, and Shakespeare courses and directed a new production of The Tempest at First Stage Theater in Milwaukee. His work as a director and playwright is deeply rooted in experimental theater and finding new ways of storytelling. Anthony is a senior BFA Musical Theater major at Western Carolina University. He is so excited to be one of the first acting apprentices at the Bay Street Theater this summer.

Cici Koueth is currently an acting student at SUNY Purchase's Conservatory of Theatre Arts. She is currently making her professional debut in Bay Street's 2018 production of Frost/Nixon as Evonne Goolagong. She's very excited to be one of the first acting apprentices at Bay Street Theater.

Lewis Elliott is a Florida native actor who studies at Greensboro College in Greensboro, North Carolina. Some of his favorite roles include: Chad Disaster! The Musical, Spatz Pollazo in SUGAR, and dancing in the TONIN Series. In addition to his stage time, he also has taught Jazz, Ballroom, and Tap regionally in the NC Triad area, choreographed shows like, Tis Pity She's A Whore and Little Shop of Horrors, and has composed two musicals. He is excited to be at the Bay Street Theatre and produce though-provoking art.

Kara Arena Bay Street Theater credits include Fellow Travelers (Marilyn Monroe u/s), Frost/Nixon (Waitress/Caroline Cushing u/s), Evita (Mistress u/s). Recent credits: The Winter's Tale (Seven Stages Shakespeare Company), The Weird (Off The Grid Theatre Company), Crazy For You (Reagle Music Theatre). Workshops: Goodspeed Opera House New Works Festival (Picnic at Hanging Rock) directed by Tyne Rafaeli and written by Daniel Zaitchik. Kara is a singer/songwriter with original work performed at the Gilbert Theater and The Millspace Center for Art, Boston Conservatory 2017.

Bay Street Theater has employed 19 interns and four acting apprentices for this summer's Mainstage Season. Each intern works throughout the summer to assure that the Mainstage Season is a success. OBAMA-OLOGY will be the first time that each member of the intern company will put together a show from scratch, all doing jobs relating to their interests. The summer intern company's performance of OBAMA-OLOGY is funded by Suffolk County.

For more information or to purchase tickets, log on to www.baystreet.org or call the Box Office at 631-725-9500, which is currently open daily from, 11 am - Showtime.

Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts is a year-round, not-for-profit professional theater and community cultural center which endeavors to innovate, educate, and entertain a diverse community through the practice of the performing arts. We serve as a social and cultural gathering place, an educational resource, and a home for a community of artists.

Public funding is provided by Suffolk County.

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