Bay Street Theater Announces Title Wave @ Bay Street

Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts is pleased to announce Title Wave at Bay Street: The 6th Annual New Works Festival, May 3 - 5. All readings are free, but tickets are required, as these events typically sell out. Tickets are available now at baystreet.org or by calling the Bay Street Theater Box Office at 631-725-9500, open Tuesday through Saturday 11 am to 5 pm, or until show time.

The three-day Festival will include readings of new plays and musicals in development. The mission of the Festival is to give playwrights a chance to hear their works in progress in front of an audience and learn from the audience's response, as well as to give the audience at Bay Street and the East End community a chance to experience up-and-coming works for the theater. Many scripts from previous Festivals have gone on to full productions both at Bay Street and at theater companies around the country. Last year's reading of The Prompter will be one of Bay Street's Mainstage productions in 2019, due to popular demand.

Each play will be read by professional actors in its entirety, accompanied by minimal staging. Each reading will be followed by a talkback during which the playwrights and the audience will have the opportunity to ask questions of each other and share their reactions to the play. Title Wave @ Bay Street: The 6th Annual New Works Festival will feature My Lord, What A Night, by Deborah Brevoort; Walden, by Amy Berryman; Delmonico, by Jack Canfora, the playwright of last year's Fellow Travelers at Bay Street; and a new musical Bliss, by Emma Lively and Tyler Beattie.

Bay Street Theater's New Works Festivals are curated by Scott Schwartz, Artistic Director at Bay Street Theater, and Will Pomerantz, Associate Artistic Director at Bay Street Theater. The Bay Street Theater's Patron's Council was an essential part of the selection process as well, reading and offering feedback on scripts under consideration. Title Wave @ Bay Street: The 6th Annual New Works Festival is sponsored in part by The Sag Harbor Inn.

"The development and production of new work is a central pillar of what we do at Bay Street," says Artistic Director Scott Schwartz, "At Title Wave, artists and audiences come together to form a buzzing hive of creativity and innovation in the live theater. It's so thrilling that this Festival, now in it's 6th year, has become a "must see" event for our community, with many of the readings filled to capacity. This year, we are so excited to welcome all of these daring writers and directors to the Festival, and we can't wait to share their singular vision with the East End."

The schedule for Title Wave @ Bay Street: The 6th Annual New Works Festival is as follows:
Friday, May 3 at 7 pm - My Lord, What A Night, by Deborah Brevoart; directed by Kel Haney
Saturday, May 4 at 2 pm - Walden, Amy Berryman; directed by Mia Walker
Saturday, May 4 at 8 pm - Delmonico, Jack Canfora; directed by Will Pomerantz
Sunday, May 5 at 3 pm - Bliss, book, music and lyrics by Emma Lively and Tyler Beattie; directed by Sheryl Kaller; choreographer Josh Prince.

Tickets are free and are available both in person at the box office and online at baystreet.org. PLEASE NOTE: because of the popularity of the Festival, tickets will only be valid until 10 minutes prior to each reading. After that, all open seats will be released to be filled by anyone waiting to be seated.

Descriptions of each play, as well bios for the writers and directors, can be found below.

My Lord, What A Night takes place in 1937, legendary singer Marian Anderson gave a concert in Princeton, NJ, but was refused accommodations at a local hotel because of her race. Albert Einstein, then a professor at Princeton, invited her to stay at his home, creating a furor and beginning a friendship between the two that would last a lifetime. Inspired by actual events, My Lord, What a Night explores the struggles faced by two icons of the 20th century, as they deal with the injustices of Jim Crow and the rise of anti-Semitism during a highly divided era in American history.

Deborah Brevoort (Playwright) writes plays, musicals and opera librettos. She is best known for her play The Women of Lockerbie, which is produced all over the world. Her other plays include The Poetry of Pizza, (Purple Rose, Mixed Blood, Virginia Stage & others), The Blue-Sky Boys, (EST/Sloan commission, Barter Theatre, Capital Rep), The Comfort Team, (Virginia Stage), The Velvet Weapon, Signs of Life, (Perseverance Theatre, Theatre One) Into the Fire and My Lord What Night. She is a two-time winner of the Frederick Loewe award in musical theatre for Coyote Goes Salmon Fishing with Scott Davenport Richards and King Island Christmas with David Friedman. She wrote the book and lyrics for Crossing Over, an Amish Hip Hop musical with composer and co-lyricist Stephanie Salzman. She is currently writing the book and lyrics for Loving with composer Diedre Murray, and the book and lyrics for Tiffany Girls with composer/lyricist Julianne Wick Davis. Her latest opera libretto is for Murasaki's Moon, with composer Michi Wiancko, commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, On Site Opera and ALT, which will premiere at the Met in 2019. She is also a three-time winner of the Frontiers opera competition at Ft. Worth Opera for Embedded and Albert Nobbs with composer Patrick Soluri, and Steal a Pencil for Me, with composer Gerald Cohen. Steal a Pencil for Me premiered at Opera Colorado in 2018; Embedded at Ft. Worth Opera and Fargo Moorhead Operas in 2016. Blue Moon Over Memphis, her Noh Drama about Elvis Presley, is currently touring internationally by Theatre Nohgaku with Noh orchestrations by Richard Emmert. Deborah serves as a mentor to the NBO Musical Theatre Initiative in Nairobi, Kenya, which is launching 16 new musicals by Kenyan composers and writers. She teaches in the graduate musical theatre writing at NYU and the MFA playwriting program Columbia University.

Kel Haney (Director) is a NYC-based director who focuses on new work. Recent credits include: Comfort/Haney's The Elephant In Every Room I Enter (Next Door at New York Theater Workshop, La MaMa); Julia Doolittle's Tell Them I'M Still Young (featuring Andre Braugher & Michele Pawk), Neil LaBute's The Way We Get By (regional premiere), Sharyn Rothstein's A Good Farmer (American Theater Group); Deborah Brevoort's My Lord, What A Night, Chris Cragin-Day's Foster Mom, and Quiara Alegria Hudes's Water By The Spoonful (Premiere Stages); Laura Maria Censabella's Paradise (featuring Grant Shaud - Luna Stage, Passage Theatre); Jordan Jaffee's Crude (featuring Nico Tortorella - an Ars Nova Fling at Theater 511); Chris Cragin-Day's A Woman, Neil LaBute's What Happens In Vegas (world premiere), and Vickie Ramirez's Glenburn 12WP (59E59). She has directed and developed new work with Abingdon Theatre Company, The Amoralists, Ars Nova, Atlantic Theater Company, Cherry Lane, Keen Company, Labyrinth, The Lark, Manhattan Theatre Club, Ma-Yi, Naked Angels, New Dramatists, New Georges, Orlando Shakes, Partial Comfort, Playwrights Realm, Rattlestick, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, Westport Country Playhouse, and Williamstown Theatre Festival. Also: MTC Directing Fellow, Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Mabou Mines Residency, Old Vic/New Voices Exchange and a lifetime member of Ensemble Studio Theatre.

Walden is set in the not-so-distant future, when climate change has led to human colonization of other planets. Cassie, a NASA botanist, returns from her year-long deployment in space and is shocked to find her sister, Stella, a former NASA architect, engaged to an Earth Advocate. As the twins grapple with questions of rivalry and love, humanity hangs in the balance.

Amy Berryman (Playwright) is an actor and writer originally from Seattle. Her full-length plays include The New Galileos (Playwrights Realm Fellowship Finalist 2018, O'Neill Finalist 2019, Mach 33 Caltech/Pasadena Playhouse Festival of New Science-Driven Plays Semi-Finalist 2019), Walden (Premiere Play Festival 2019 Finalist, Great Plains 2019 selection, Last Frontier Theatre Conference 2018 selection), and Three Year Summer (developed with Nomad Theatricals in NYC, Portland Stage in Maine, and PROP Thtr in Chicago). The short film she wrote, co-produced, and starred in You Are Everywhere won Best Drama in the LA Short Film Festival 2018. As an actor, she was recently seen off-Broadway in The Convent by Jessica Dickey (Rattlestick/Rising Phoenix Rep). Other credits include Lunchtime by Greg Kotis (the Brick), and I Will Be Gone by Erin Courtney (Humana Festival).

Mia Walker (Director) Broadway/National Tours include: Tour Director on the current National Tour of Finding Neverland and the recent National Tour of Pippin; Associate Director on A.R.T./Broadway's Waitress; Assistant Director on A.R.T./Broadway's The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, Pippin, and Finding Neverland. Upcoming: Associate Director, Jagged Little Pill (Broadway, Fall 2019). Off-Broadway/Regional directing: Fault Line Theatre (All Nighter, Irons in the Fire); Into the Wild (Encore); NYMF; The Flea (Resident Director); Ensemble Studio Theatre (Youngblood). Drama League Directing Fellow. B.A. Harvard University.

Delmonico takes place in August 1964, and Beatlemania is at its height. But when the Fab Four get a chance to meet folk singer Bob Dylan, it's the boys from Liverpool who are initially star struck. Based on real events, Delmonico tells the story of the night these two titanic musical forces met, influenced one another, and helped chart the course of the 1960s and beyond.

Jack Canfora (Playwright) author of Bay Street's production of the 2018 Mainstage show of Fellow Travelers has had many of his plays pro produced to critical acclaim both Off-Broadway and in regional theaters throughout the United States. His Off-Broadway play Poetic License was hailed as "Smart, unsettling drama" by The New York Times and "Clever...articulate...white-hot" by The Associated Press. His play Jericho received a 2011 Edgerton Award as well as a highly lauded Off-Broadway run. It was a New York Times "Critics' Pick," calling it "painfully significant "and "A lovely, humorous work... a smart, hard-hitting drama filled with biting wit." Theatre Communications Group referred to the play as "an important contribution to the repertoire of the American Stage." His play Place Setting was nominated, along with plays by Edward Albee and Theresa Rebeck, as "Best Play for 2007" by The Newark Star Ledger. His play Fellow Travelers opened at the Bay Street Theater in 2018 and was called "compelling" by Newsday and "a must see" by Hamptons.com and is being considered for a Broadway move. His play The Source is the winner of a 2018 Edgerton Award and debuted at New Jersey Repertory in 2019, where it was called "stunning" by BroadwayWorld.com and "well-written, intelligent, often very funny - but serious" by The Two Rivers Times. Jack also co-wrote and co-created the comedy web series The Small Time, which won the 2016 Webby Award for Best Writing.

Will Pomerantz (Director) has directed and developed new plays and musicals with such theatres as The Guthrie, American Repertory Theatre, 2nd Stage, Playwrights Horizons, The Public Theatre, Hartford Stage, New York Theater Workshop, The Signature Theatre, The Kennedy Center, Soho Rep, Culture Project, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Studio Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre and The Mark Taper Forum. He has directed world premieres by such playwrights as John Guare, David Auburn, Neil LaBute, Craig Lucas, Kia Corthron, David Lindsay-Abaire, Stephen Belber, Noah Haidle, Linda Cho and Kira Obolensky. His productions have received the Helen Hayes Award, The Lucille Lortel Award, The Elliot Norton Award and The Independent Reviewers of New England Award, as well as a Drama Desk nomination, and his work has been cited as the best of the year by The Washington Post,
The Washington Times and Bloomberg News. For Bay Street, Will recently directed a newly envisioned version of EVITA that became the highest grossing production in Bay Street's 27-year history.

Bliss is a fairytale turned upside down. An original musical with an energetic rock score, Bliss tells the story of four princesses for a new generation. Unapologetically unconventional, they break free from the castle, ready to conquer the world, only to discover that it is more complicated than they imagined. Can a princess skip the spells, snag the prince and slay the dragon, all while staying true to herself? An adventure like no other awaits.

Tyler Beattie (Book, Music, Lyrics) has co-written several original musicals with Emma Lively, including Bliss, Blue, and Candy Land. A passionate educator, Tyler is the founder and coach of an award-winning middle school team in Harlem and a graduate of Northwestern University.

Emma Lively (Book, Music Lyrics) has co-written several original musicals with Tyler Bettie, including Bliss, Blue, and Candy Land. A published Penguin Random House author with translations into more than a dozen languages, she holds a master's degree in viola performance from SUNY/Stony Brook with post graduate studies in conducting, composition and orchestration for the Julliard School.

Sheryl Kaller (Director) most recently directed A Walk on the Moon by Paul Scott Goodman and Pamela Grey at A.C.T. She directed Terrence McNally's Tony Award-nominated play on Broadway, Mothers and Sons with Tyne Daly. Sheryl received a Tony Award nomination for Best Director for the Broadway production of Next Fall by Geoffrey Nauffts. Recent projects include Frozen for Disney Cruise Lines, Our Town with Deaf West Theater and Pasadena Playhouse, Sacred Valley Josh Radnor at NYSAF, The White Chip by Sean Daniels and Choice by Winnie Holzman. She also recently directed the world premieres of Billy Porter's play While I Yet Live at Primary Stages, Nick Blaemire's A Little More Alive (Barrington Stage and Kansas City Rep), Roundabout Theater Company's Underground production of Too Much, Too Much, Too Many, by Meghan Kennedy, and the LCT3 production of Mr. Joy, by Daniel Beaty. and Switched by Jonatha Brooke and Geoffrey Nauffts, among others. Upcoming: The Untitled Sex Project by Billy Porter at Primary Stages.

Josh Prince (Choreographer) Tony nominated for Beautiful - The Carole King Musical; Outer Critics Circle Nomination for Shrek, The Musical. Other credits include The Jerry Springer Opera, Camelot, The Bridge Project directed by Sam Mendes, and projects with The New Group.

Scott Schwartz (Artistic Director) is the Artistic Director of Bay Street Theater. Most recently, he directed the world premiere of the new musical The Prince of Egypt in both California and at Fredericia Teater in Denmark. As a director, he has worked on and off-Broadway, in major regional theaters across the country, and in the UK and Japan. On Broadway, he directed Golda's Balcony and Jane Eyre (co-directed with John Caird). Off-Broadway, he directed Murder for Two, Bat Boy: The Musical (Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Awards, Outstanding Off Broadway Musical; Drama Desk Award nomination, Outstanding Director of a Musical), tick, tick...BOOM! (OCC, Outstanding Off Broadway Musical; Drama Desk nomination, Outstanding Director of a Musical), Gigantic (Vineyard), The Foreigner (Roundabout), Rooms: A Rock Romance, Kafka's The Castle (OCC nomination, Outstanding Director of a Play), and No Way to Treat a Lady. At New York City Opera he directed Séance on a Wet Afternoon. The regional theaters he has worked at include ACT, Alley, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Dallas Theatre Center, Denver Center, The Geffen, Goodspeed Opera House, La Jolla Playhouse, Old Globe, Pasadena Playhouse, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Signature, Theatre Under the Stars, and Westport Country Playhouse among others. He is a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and a graduate of Harvard University.

All readings in Title Wave @ Bay Street: The 6th Annual New Works Festival are free, but tickets are required, as these events sell out. Please note that all tickets will be deemed invalid for entry 10 minutes prior to each reading, and any empty seats will be released to waiting customers, so please arrive early. Tickets are available now at baystreet.org and through the Box Office at 631-725-9500. The Box Office is currently open Tuesday - Saturday, 11 am - 5 pm or 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. It serves as a social and cultural gathering place, an educational resource, and a home for a community of artists.

To post a comment, you must register and login.