Sag Harbor, NY - November 14, 2018 - Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts is pleased to announce a successful opening night for this year’s Literature Live! production of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, adapted for the stage by Simon Levy, directed by Joe Minutillo and choreographed by Stephanie Vertichio. This is the tenth anniversary year of the Literature Live! program. Public performances continue Thursday through Saturday, November 15 – 17, and Thanksgiving weekend Friday- Sunday, November 23 - 25. Tickets are on sale now and available online at baystreet.org, or by calling the Box Office at 631-725-9500.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic Jazz Age novel, The Great Gatsby, comes to life on Bay Street’s intimate stage. The Roaring 20’s was a time of excess, lavish parties and speakeasies. Jay Gatsby was a secretive and successful kingpin of the elite party circuit, but he had one burning desire and one purpose - to be with Daisy Buchanan, the love of his life from his youth. Set on Long Island in 1922, this compelling drama portrays the human condition of ambition, love, lust, greed, deceit, and most of all the struggles of class and the American Dream.
Literature Live! is a BOCES-approved Arts-in-Education program. Plays chosen are from the standards-based literature and are supported with teacher-developed lesson plans and reference materials, as well as in-school visits with the actors or teaching artists when requested. All performances are 95 minutes and weekday shows are followed by a question and answer session. Bay Street Theater is committed to supporting students who have little or no access to the performing arts in schools. Now in its 10th season, the program has successfully served over 60 schools and nearly 30,000 students and their educators. This production alone will be seen by 3,600 students this month. The production is performed free for student groups and their teachers from across Long Island. Literature Live! is currently being supported by a Matching Challenge Grant of $100,000, with $47,000 currently raised to date.
Literature Live! is sponsored by Century Arts Foundation which is the lead sponsor for the Literature Live! Matching Grant Challenge, The Bay Street Board of Trustees, The Andrew Sabin Family Foundation, Susan Dusenberry, Dana Foundation, In Memory of Sloane Shelton, Irvin Stern Foundation, Mary Lou & Sal Ranieri, Nancy Stearns, Town of Southampton, and BTIG, LLC, along with numerous individual donations both large and small.
Opening night was not only a huge success for the show itself, but Bay Street also used the evening to reveal a new donor appreciation wall, located on the patio outside. In spite of the cold and blustery evening, all who were in attendance were excited, honored and surprised. Guests included current Board Members Christine Wächter-Campbell, Luigi Caiola, and Mala Sander, while former Chair Ana Daniel also took time for a quick photo.
The Box Office is currently open Tuesday - Saturday 11 am - 5 pm. To purchase tickets, call the Box Office at 631-725-9500 or order online at baystreet.org.
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.