Photos: Bay Street Honors Harris Yulin and Mercedes Ruehl at A NIGHT IN THE TROPICS

Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts has shared photographs from its Mini Gala Dinner and Reception, A Night In The Tropics, held Saturday, July 16, at the home of Bay Street Theater Board of Trustee Stewart Lane and Bonnie Comley.

The evening was held in honor of legendary actors Harris Yulin and Mercedes Ruehl, who were both handed The Joel Grey Lifetime Achievement Award. Acclaimed playwright Madeline Myers was joined by actress Julia Motyka to perform several songs from her bound-for-Broadway musical, Double Helix.

The evening was another in a series of Mini Gala Dinners, which Bay Street is hosting in lieu of the normal 500-person summer gala on Long Wharf. These intimate VIP dinners and receptions are held at private residences of Bay Street Theater board members, patrons, and members of the theater-loving community, with past events hosted by Executive Director Tracy Mitchell and her husband Blaze Makoid, and additional Board of Trustee members and their spouses: Steve Sanders and Madelyn Simon, Mala and Jeff Sander, and Christine Wächter-Campbell and Bill Campbell. For more information about upcoming receptions, or to purchase tickets, contact Director of Philanthropy, Kim Fink, directly at kim@baystreet.org.

Special guests included Harris Yulin and Mercedes Ruehl; playwright & composer Madeline Myers, actress Julia Motyka, American opera singer, Cristina Fontanelli; film director Susan Lacy and Halsted Welles; actor Paul McIsaac and Ricki Roer; journalist Steve Kroft and author Jenny Conant; and Board of Trustees Chair Steve Todrys, with fellow board members Stewart Lane and Wendy Hashmall. The evening's events were led by Tracy Mitchell, Executive Director and Scott Schwartz, Artistic Director.

The 2022 Mainstage Season is made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; New York State through the generosity of Assemblyman Fred Thiele and State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle; Town of Southampton; The Shubert Foundation; Suffolk County Office of Film & Cultural Affairs; fully or partially funded by the Suffolk County Department of Economic Development & Planning; AARP Long Island; Adam Miller Group; Advantage Title; Air Hamptons; Baron's Cove; Bartlett Tree Experts; CeeJack Team of Compass Real Estate; Corcoran; Dayton, Ritz & Osborne Insurance; DIME; East End Awning; East End Tick & Mosquito Control; First Coastal; Fisher Signs & Shirts; Greg D'Angelo; Grenning Gallery; Harbor Pets; Hollander Design Landscape Architects; Jane Holden; BHS; Maggio Environmental Services; Mala Sander + Team; National Grid; North American Air Charter; Northwell Health; Peconic Bay Medical Center; Propane Depot; PSEG Long Island; REVCO Lighting; Sag Harbor Books; Six Sigma Auto Group; SOTHEBY'S; Stony Brook Southampton Hospital; The Awning Company; The Wharf Shop; Twin Forks Pest Control; Unlimited Earth Care; Weber & Grahn; and Weill Cornell Medicine.

Bay Street Theater is a fully vaccinated company. All attendance is available via touchless ticketing. All guests are strongly recommended to wear masks upon entry and while seated in the theater. For full list of COVID-19-related safety procedures and guidelines for in-person events, please visit us online at baystreet.org.

Bay Street Theater 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.

Photo Credit: Rob Rich/SocietyAllure.com