‘Art’ Onstage

Our Fabulous Variety Show, a Southampton-based nonprofit theatrical company, is spreading its wings. In association with Nimbus Productions, the group will perform Yasmina Reza’s multiple award-winning play “Art” at Guild Hall from next Thursday through May 5.

Premiered in 1994, the play is a comedy about three longtime friends whose relationship is tested when one purchases an expensive, all-white painting. Directed by Jenna Mate, the show stars Edward Kassar, Joe Pallister, and Sawyer Spielberg. Performances will take place Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $28 and available from OvationTix.

The company has also issued a call for “OFVS Idol,” a one-night-only singer-and-songwriter showcase to take place on May 15. The winner will receive a cash prize and a chance to perform in the troupe’s vaudeville cabaret at Guild Hall on May 18. Registration is $25 at ourfabulousvarietyshow.org.

Dancing and Laughs

“Pachanga 2019: Fuerza y Alma (Strength and Soul),” an evening of live music and dancing featuring performances by Mambo Loco and Mila Tina, will happen at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor Friday at 7, courtesy of Organizacion Latino-Americana of Eastern Long Island. Tickets are $20 at eventbrite.com, and a full bar will be available.

The laughs will be back on Saturday at 8 p.m., when Bay Street joins with Joseph Vecsey (Optimum’s “The UnMovers” and Netflix’s “Father of the Year”) hosts a new All Star Comedy show. Featured guests will be Barry Ribs (of the Apollo Theater, an opening act for D.L. Hughley), Carie Karavas (“Kevin Can Wait”), and Marc Gerber (MTV’s “Catfish” and “The Steve Harvey Show”). Tickets are $30 in advance, $40 the day of the show.

Van Gogh Animated

The Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill will show “Loving Vincent,” a 2018 Academy Award nominee for best animated feature film, Friday at 6 p.m. It consists of 65,000 frames hand-painted by 125 painters over live-action reconstructions of van Gogh’s life and the events leading to his death.

The plot centers on the son of a friend of the artist who sets out to discover the truth about his death by interviewing those closest to him. Tickets are $15, $5 for members and students.

For Earth Week

In celebration of Earth Day and Earth Week, the Southampton Arts Center will have free screenings of two films that explore issues related to climate change. “Normal Is Over 1.1,” an updated version of a documentary by Renée Scheltema, a Dutch investigative journalist, will be shown on Monday at 7 p.m., to be followed by a talkback with the filmmaker.

Featuring interviews with a variety of environmental authorities and activists, the documentary focuses on humanity’s responses to climate change, species extinction, income inequality, and industrial food production.

“The Human Element,” a new documentary by James Balog, an environmental photographer, that captures the lives of everyday Americans on the front lines of climate change, will be shown at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 26.

On a lighter note, the center will host its monthly Saturday Night Stomp, a party with D.J. Mister Lama featuring dance favorites from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, on Saturday at 7. Tickets are $12, $10 for members.

Mozart in Summer

The Choral Society of the Hamptons will hold auditions on Monday at the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church for singers interested in participating in its summer concert. 

“Mozart in Salzburg” will be performed at 5 and 7:30 p.m. on June 29 at the church. Conducted by Mark Mangini, the concert will focus on the early works of the composer. Those interested in auditioning can call or text Hannah Huizing for an appointment at 631-204-9402 or email her at [email protected]. Rehearsals generally take place at the church on Mondays from 7 to 9:30 p.m.

Navy Beach Returns 

Navy Beach in Montauk will reopen for its 10th season on April 26 at 5 p.m. The restaurant will serve lunch and dinner on weekends, Friday through Sunday, starting tomorrow.

Easter Special

Bell and Anchor in Noyac will offer a special Easter brunch menu from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. Featured dishes include lobster Benedict for $26, duck hash for $22, and a house-smoked salmon plate for $22. 

The restaurant will not be open for dinner that evening. 

Passover Specials

Nick and Toni’s in East Hampton is offering a Passover dinner menu tomorrow, the first night of the holiday, including a matzo gnocchi appetizer ($15), a braised short rib entree ($38), and, for dessert, honey pistachio cake ($15).

Rowdy Hall in East Hampton is also offering a Passover menu tomorrow, for lunch and dinner, including matzo ball soup ($12), braised brisket ($28), and chocolate chiffon cake for $12. 

Wine Tasting

Park Place Wines and Liquors in East Hampton will hold a tasting of chardonnays from different regions of the world at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Reservations are by calling the store. 

American Express Deal

Nick and Toni’s, Fresno in East Hampton, and Almond in Bridgehampton will offer a special for American Express cardholders in May. Those who purchase a dinner entree with an Amex card will receive a complimentary glass of wine or a nonalcoholic drink.

Bacon Almond Cheese Spread

For all of the Down South sporting events coming up in April and May, here is a simple recipe from dear, departed friend Jim Villas, who hailed from North Carolina and lived in East Hampton. This recipe is from his book “Bacon.” He suggests using a mellow honey-cured or maple-smoked bacon for this. He also says you can add some good grated cheddar to the dip.

Makes two and a half cups.

5 slices honey-cured or maple-smoked bacon, cooked, 

drained, and crumbled

2 cups creamed cottage cheese

3 Tbsp. chopped chives

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup finely chopped toasted almonds 

(chopped toasted pecans would be good too, my note)

Toast triangles (crudités and crackers would be good too, my note again.)

In blender or food processor, combine cottage cheese, chives, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper; blend just until smooth. Scrape into bowl and add the bacon and almonds, stir until well blended, cover, and chill about 30 minutes before serving with toast triangles.

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These two open-faced hors d’œuvres-style sandwiches would be great to serve for a French Open party. Use small slices of baguette for more dainty servings. These are both from Patricia Wells’s “Bistro Cooking” cookbook.

Grilled Country Bread With Pesto and Smoked Trout

Serves four.

4 Tbsp. pesto

4 thick slices country or whole wheat bread, freshly toasted

4 thin slices smoked fish, such as trout or whiting

Spread 1 Tbsp. of pesto on each slice of toasted bread. Place a slice of smoked fish on top. Neatly trim the edges of the fish to fit the bread, and serve.

Les Bacchantes’ Blue Cheese and Ham Sandwich

Serves four.

4 large slices country or whole wheat bread

1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese, such as Bleu des Causses or Roquefort

4 thin slices unsmoked salt-cured ham, such as prosciutto 

Preheat broiler. Grill or toast the bread evenly on both sides. Sprinkle with the cheese, then top with a slice of ham. Grill until the ham is warm and the cheese begins to melt, about two minutes.

There is seemingly no end to the number of artists associated with the East End, past and present. Annual exhibitions that attempt to bring more of them to our attention should be commended for giving us a fuller picture of the creativity that has existed in our midst for more than a century.

This year’s East End Collected, the fifth, will open on Saturday at the Southampton Arts Center. Organized by Paton Miller, a Southampton artist, the show brings together familiar and lesser-known names in a mix of about 30 or so artists that is usually revelatory.

According to Mr. Miller, more than 150 artists have participated in the franchise, which was started soon after Southampton Village took over the space once occupied by the Parrish Art Museum. At the time, he told village officials that “a new arts center had to be loved by the community to be enthusiastically supported and have a chance to grow.” He suggested that the center see itself as a mirror reflecting the regional artistic community.

This year’s roster includes Casey Chalem Anderson, Michael Cardacino, Sylvia Channing, Jeremy Dennis, Madison Fender, Francine Fleischer, Lori Hawkins, Carol Hunt, Anna Jurinich, Christine Keefe, Suzanne LaFleur, Geralyne Lewandowski, John Margaritis, Alexis Martino, Lauren Matzen, Eric Meola, Oscar Molina, Joan Lee Montefusco, Nika Nesgoda, Cindy Pease Roe, Jay Schneiderman, Arden Scott, Ty Stroudsburg, Trina Tozzi Michne, and Isabel Turban.

In addition to these artistic “veterans,” Mr. Miller has put together a de facto junior committee of artists at the beginning of their careers. The E.E.C. Jr. group consists of Harlan Beeton, Emily Esposito, Kyle McNamara, Cian O’Neill, Kai Parcher-Charles, Finn Pilaro, and J.B. Riffaud.

A reception will be held on Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m. While the show is up, the center will continue its free artist Hangouts nights at which those attending can socialize with the artists who have work on view, have a glass of wine, and even play Ping-Pong in the galleries. They are scheduled for next Thursday and May 30 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Free gallery tours with Mr. Miller and the artists will take place on May 19 and June 9 at 12:30 p.m. Mr. Miller will host an illustrated talk featuring the artists on June 2 at 4 p.m. The show will remain on view through June 9.

Imagine, if you can, Hoagy Carmichael with an English Ph.D. from Harvard tinkling the ivories at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor while ruminating for his audience on the writer’s life and improvising “Georgia on My Mind” on the piano. But, you say, Carmichael died before Bay Street was born, and, while he did write that haunting tune made famous by Ray Charles and others, his advanced degree was from Indiana University’s law school.

Okay, substitute Roger Rosenblatt, a distinguished essayist, novelist, editor, professor, and screenwriter whose resume includes Time magazine, “The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour,” The Washington Post, and The New Republic, put him in front of a piano, and you will have “Lives in the Basement, Does Nothing: A Writing Life,” a show of musical and literary improvisation that will happen at Bay Street tomorrow and Saturday evenings at 8.

To raise the ante on the literary side of things, Mr. Rosenblatt has invited two award-winning writer friends, Amy Hempel and Alice McDermott, to drop in for five to seven minutes of their own off-the-cuff reflections on their metier.

“There are so many connections between music and the written word, and that’s the subject of the show,” said Mr. Rosenblatt during a recent conversation at his Quogue residence. “I’ve seen this connection between improvising in writing and improvising in music, seen the connection between hunting for the notes and hunting for the word. Miles Davis said to Herbie Hancock, ‘In music and in life, there are no mistakes, just opportunities to improvise.’ ”

Mr. Rosenblatt will alternate between talking and playing, “and I hope people will be able to tell the difference,” he said. He takes pains to point out that he is nothing compared to real jazz pianists. “But I can get the sound of jazz, and I like jazz enormously. Improvisation is hard, but once you get into it, you see a whole new world.”

While he has played the piano since he was a child, he has never played in public, and he has never learned to read music. “I’ve played by ear all my life, and I’ve driven teachers to distraction because I can hear it before they teach it. The reason I like playing by ear, even though I can’t play as well as someone who can read music, is that I can do things they can’t do. That is, I can improvise in ways most pianists can’t because they don’t need to.”

One genesis of “Lives in the Basement” was his discovery on YouTube of “Free Speech in America,” a solo performance he gave in 1991 at the American Place Theater in New York City. “It was kind of an overeducated standup comedy talking about free speech in America and having a good time with all the manifestations of it.” 

After a rave review in The New York Times, what was supposed to be a three-week engagement ran for seven months. “At the end I was going broke because I was spending more money on cab rides to the theater than I was making from the play.”

Revisiting “Free Speech” reminded him that he had liked the experience, but he realized he would require something different and new were he to take to the stage again. “In the almost 30 years since ‘Free Speech,’ I’ve really learned so much more about writing and become so much better a teacher of writing than I ever was before. I thought I had something worthwhile for an audience. Then the craziness set in—the idea of playing the piano.”

Mr. Rosenblatt explained that the conversations with Ms. Hempel (Friday) and Ms. McDermott (Saturday) would be improvised. “They have each agreed to come onstage and talk to me about whatever they feel like in writing. If they want to take off from or disagree with something I’ve said, that’s fine. They’re both amazing on their feet, so it should be fun. And if they show me up, I’ll kick them off.”

While he cited as another reason for undertaking this project the fact that he didn’t have any new writing projects on the table, he has not been idle. “Words and Tune: Playing the Writing Life,” a collection of his musings on writing, many drawn from his novels and essays, will be published in 2020 by Turtle Point Press.

In addition, a film version of his 2006 novel “Lapham Rising,” a hilarious lampoon of the Hamptons that he adapted for the screen, will go into production this summer with a cast including Frank Langella, Stockard Channing, and Bobby Cannavale. 

Mr. Rosenblatt explained the source of the title of the Bay Street show. After the sudden, unexpected death of their daughter at the age of 38, he and his wife, Ginny, lived for a number of years in Maryland with their son-in-law and their grandchildren. While there he would from time to time visit the kids’ schools to talk about writing.

One afternoon his granddaughter Jessica, who was in the fourth grade, introduced him to her class: “This is my grandfather Boppo. He lives in the basement and does nothing.” Jessica is now 18 years old and will attend Saturday’s show with her father and siblings.

Tickets for the shows are $30 in advance, $40 when purchased the day of the event.

A coalition of 13 local advocacy groups, elected officials, and property owners took the State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Sand Land industrial mine to Albany County Supreme Court on Thursday and negotiated a two-week delay that will pause the D.E.C.’s controversial permit approval for expanded and deeper mining at the Noyac site until the end of the month.

The judge also extended the public comment period for the proposed settlement to April 30, when the parties will reconvene.

Judge Kimberly O’Connor did not grant the temporary injunction the 13-member coalition had requested until the lawsuit it filed on Wednesday against the D.E.C. and Sand Land, asking that the court void the proposed agreement, is complete. But Bob DeLuca of Group for the East End, one of the 13 parties that brought the litigation and sought the injunction on Thursday, said it was his understanding that some related cases against Sand Land and/or the D.E.C. that are already in the courts will be consolidated, probably under a Supreme Court judge other than Ms. O’Connor, before all sides meet again at the end of the month.

The Suffolk County Department of Health Services has found that Sand Land is releasing contaminants into the soil at the site. The mine sits over an aquifer vital to the East End water supply.

The coalition that filed the litigation this week is made up of the Town of Southampton, Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., the Group for the East End, the Noyac Civic Council, the Southampton Town Civic Coalition, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, Bridgehampton Road Races L.L.C. (owner of The Bridge golf club), and six other property owners.

Their lawsuit asks the court to throw out the March settlement the D.E.C. had reached with Sand Land that would permit its owners to mine another three acres, dig another 40 feet down, and remain open another eight years. That was a reversal of a decision by the D.E.C. late last year that would have led to the closure of the mine and remediation of the site by 2020.

Critics have blasted the settlement as “a backroom deal,” noting that it was privately negotiated between the D.E.C. and Sand Land after Sand Land appealed the D.E.C.’s ruling last fall.

Though the coalition didn’t get everything it was seeking on Thursday, Mr. DeLuca still characterized the court outcome as a positive step.

“I think the judge provided an opportunity that will be beneficial to all community stakeholders, as it will allow us to make the strongest possible case before the D.E.C. regarding the imposition of the proposed settlement and mine expansion, and reinforce the position that this bizarre proposal to expand a polluting industrial use directly over our aquifer is universally opposed by community and environmental organizations, local neighbors, the Town of Southampton, and our Assemblyman Fred Thiele,” Mr. DeLuca said.

Adrienne Esposito, executive director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, said the case is simple: “The rationale is [Sand Land] already contaminated groundwater and therefore should not be able to continue this dangerous activity.”

There is “absolutely no doubt” that the shoal system and foreshore of Gardiner’s Island, like the island itself, is privately owned, an expert has told the East Hampton Town Trustees. Further, he said, the “public trust” doctrine — which allows for the public use of such resources regardless of private ownership — is not universal across New York State. 

Steve Boerner, an archivist at the East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection and a real-property consultant, delivered that report to the trustees on Monday. They had hired him to investigate the matter last fall, following the arrest of Rod Richardson in July for allegedly trespassing on Cartwright Shoal, a sandy spit off the Gardiner’s Island foreshore. Mr. Richardson, an Amagansett resident and a member of Citizens for Access Rights, urged the trustees afterward to determine the ownership of the shoal, which is often submerged, once and for all, insisting it was public property. Colonial-era documents, he said, would prove it.

With Mr. Richardson in the audience, Mr. Boerner categorically disputed that assertion. His report, which differs from a preliminary report the trustees discussed internally last winter, cites 17th and 18th-century documents including Lion Gardiner’s 1639 purchase of the island from Native Americans; the Nicolls and Dongan Patents, the latter creating the trustees as a governing body in 1686, and archival material pertaining to the Gardiner family, as well as leases of Gardiner’s and Cartwright Islands between 1915 and 1935. 

“I know the archival material from East Hampton, and that island, and that family,” Mr. Boerner said. “There is no evidence of town use of anything on there, nothing. If anybody wants to say that periodic trespassing on these shoal systems counts as a ‘custom’ ” — a term for adverse possession, where someone acquires ownership of property based on continuous possession or use, without the legal owner’s permission — “I absolutely disagree with that.” 

In the course of his investigation, “I’ve done comparative analyses of many other contemporary Indian purchases, and more specifically, islands that attained the same manorial status as Gardiner’s Island,” Mr. Boerner’s report states. “In the case of Indian conveyances of land for townships on the mainland of Long Island, N.Y., the consistent language in them recites the littoral boundaries as ‘from sea to sea,’ or ‘from bay to sea.’ ” 

These descriptions, he wrote, “absolutely included the respective foreshores, as is proven repeatedly by continued use and regulation of and by their respective owners (in most instances municipalities, or towns) for their own inhabitants.” 

The current proprietors of Gardiner’s Island are Alexandra Creel Goelet, a Gardiner by blood, and her husband, Robert Goelet, whose trusts assumed ownership in 2004 upon the death of Robert David Lion Gardiner.

The Dongan Patent issued to East Hampton Township, Mr. Boerner writes, confirmed title and custodianship with the newly created government, the trustees, with whom, “to reiterate more precisely, all land upland, littoral, and lands under water not already owned privately was vested.” In the same year, 1686, Gardiner’s Island received a patent from Governor Thomas Dongan granting it manorial status. “The critical consideration here is this manorial status erected the island — entirely privately owned — into its own municipality, akin to nearby East Hampton Township, N.Y. Said patent contained nearly identical language to the East Hampton patent; germane to this investigation, it identified the beaches as vested in the title of the island’s proprietor, John Gardiner.” 

Mr. Boerner also cited a 1705 lease of Fishers Island, details of which “provide important evidence as to title of the adjoining lands under water, the adjacent smaller islands, and the foreshore rights upon the main island and said smaller ones.” “To me,” he told the trustees, “that’s the same as the shoal system of Gardiner’s Island.” 

“The New York State Constitution of 1777, Article 35, honored those early land terms,” he continued. “That includes East Hampton’s patents and Gardiner’s Island. Gardiner’s Island is private, they’ve never conveyed a square inch of their land to any private entity except the northern tip of their shoals to the U.S. government for a lighthouse. . . . You cannot convey what you don’t own.” 

It is important that the public see Gardiner’s Island and the Town of East Hampton as “side-by-side municipalities in terms of their land-tenure status,” the archivist said. 

“The Gardiner patent is the same as our patent, only it’s directed solely toward the Gardiner family?” asked Francis Bock, the trustees’ clerk.

Correct, was the reply, “including the foreshore . . . I absolutely have not seen anything — anything — showing that the public trust doctrine is universal.” 

Mr. Richardson strongly disagreed with Mr. Boerner’s conclusions. Media reports about the meeting, such as this one, would be “highly prejudicial,” he told the trustees, and “misinform the public if that report is wrong.” He asked that the Boerner report not be released to the public, at least until he had had a chance to review it privately. He offered to arrange a separate analysis by experts who, he said, would not be compensated or beholden to him.

Some trustees bristled at the suggestion. “If you have these experts,” Mr. Bock asked, “why weren’t you doing your own independent study? Why are you depending on the public to do it for you? We’re spending public money to try to defend you in court, is what you’re saying.”

Jim Grimes was more direct. “You want us to take the report, keep it among ourselves, but you’re part of that inner circle,” he said. “I’ve got to tell you, you’re out of your mind if you think I’m going to go along with that. If a report has been prepared for this board, it is not exclusive to this board. We represent the public. The public will have access to it at or about the same time we do.” 

Before releasing Mr. Boerner’s report, Mr. Richardson said, “Be darn sure it’s accurate, and if people have differences of opinion, air those. You don’t want to be the trustees who damaged the public trust and navigation rights. . . .” 

The report is not a trustee document, said Bill Taylor. “We requested an opinion, and we got the opinion.” The trustees, he said, are “more than happy to get a report from anybody that’s interested in speaking on the subject. Perhaps after we’ve sorted it all out, we might come to an opinion, we might not.” 

Mr. Richardson is not alone in his concern about public access. Citizens for Access Rights was formed in response to an effort among a group of Napeague residents and the holding corporation of the White Sands Motel to prohibit driving on stretches of ocean shoreline there. Lawsuits were decided in the town’s favor, but the plaintiffs have appealed. 

During the trustees’ meeting, an anonymous email was sent to this reporter, forwarding a February email from Christopher Carillo, the trustees’ attorney, to all the trustees, in which he referred to Mr. Boerner’s “final report.” The report, he said, left him “very underwhelmed,” and was, he said, devoid of analysis of the public-trust doctrine and the conveyance of Gardiner’s Island to the Goelet family. “I feel we have swung and missed on our attempt to help the public gain any clarity on this important public beach-access topic,” he wrote, adding that publishing the report could invite litigation. 

On Tuesday, Mr. Carillo confirmed the Feb. 18 email’s authenticity, but he, Mr. Bock, and Mr. Boerner stated that the report referenced in the email was not in fact the final report, which Mr. Bock said was delivered only last week. “That was the first draft of the report,” Mr. Carillo said. Mr. Boerner “preliminarily sent it as the final report. We went back and said ‘We’d like you to take a look at the public trust doctrine more.’ He subsequently sent us a final draft.” 

Independently, Mr. Bock provided the same recollection. The email, he said, was “definitely not in reference to the final report.” 

Mr. Boerner corroborated both accounts. “I want people to understand something,” he said on Tuesday, reiterating the position that Gardiner’s Island and East Hampton should be seen as side-by-side municipalities. “The very same reason I feel strongly that Gardiner’s Island has these rights holds the same for East Hampton. I’m not Mr. Anti-Public Access — on the contrary. It’s case by case.”

A fairy tale pop/rock musical, two history-based plays, and a drama set in a near future beset by climate change will be presented next week in Title Wave at Bay Street, the Sag Harbor theater’s sixth annual New Works Festival. The free readings of new plays in development offer playwrights an opportunity to hear their works in progress, learn from the audience’s responses, and provide the East End community a chance to experience promising works for the theater.

Scott Schwartz, the theater’s artistic director, said, “I’m very proud that a great many works we have presented in the festival have gone on to full productions both at our theater and at other theaters around the country.” “The Prompter,” a comedy by Wade Dooley presented at last year’s festival, will receive its world premiere in a full production starring Tovah Feldshuh and Mr. Dooley this summer at Bay Street.

The festival will launch on Friday, May 3, at 7 p.m. with “My Lord, What a Night,” a play by Deborah Brevoort set in 1937 when the legendary African-American singer Marian Anderson gave a concert at Princeton University. When she was denied a room at the Nassau Inn, then a whites-only hotel in what Paul Robeson once called “the northernmost town in the South,” Albert Einstein, who was a resident scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, invited her to stay at his home, initiating a friendship that would last until his death in 1955.

Another meeting of famous people inspired “Delmonico,” Jack Canfora’s play about the August 1964 meeting of Bob Dylan and the Beatles at the Delmonico Hotel in New York City. The play, which will be presented May 4 at 8 p.m., tells the story of the night those two musical forces met and how they influenced each other. Mr. Canfora’s play “Fellow Travelers” had its world premiere last summer at Bay Street.

Amy Berryman’s “Walden” is set in a not-too-distant future when climate change has led to the human colonization of other planets. Cassie, a NASA botanist, returns from her year-long deployment in space to learn that her twin sister, Stella, is engaged to someone who advocates remaining on Earth and making the best of conditions there. Questions of rivalry and love play out as humanity hangs in the balance. “Walden” will be performed on the afternoon of May 4 at 2.

The festival will conclude on May 5 at 3 p.m. with “Bliss,” a pop-rock musical with book, music, and lyrics by Emma Lively and Tyler Beattie. The story of four unconventional princesses who long to break free of their castle, the play is a fractured fairy tale, according to Mr. Schwartz. 

“It takes fairy tale traditions and techniques, turns them on their heads, and explodes them a bit. One of the major reasons we decided to do ‘Bliss’ is that it looks at the fairy tale from a woman’s perspective and makes the princesses the heroes of the story. It takes a modern, fresh sensibility, particularly about gender roles, and applies it to the fairy tale genre.”

Mr. Schwartz explained that because Bay Street has mounted at least one world premiere in each of its last five seasons, it has become known in the national theater community as a place that produces new works. Will Pomerantz, the theater’s associate artistic director, and Mr. Schwartz look at hundreds of plays and musicals submitted by agents, producers, and playwrights over the course of a year.  

“While we look at any new work we get as a possibility for production, we also consider them for the New Works Festival,” said Mr. Schwartz. “When you consider we can only take four for the festival, it’s a pretty high bar that a work has to hit.” He added that the festival is committed to gender parity.

Each play is read in its entirety by professional actors, accompanied by minimal staging, and followed by a talkback. “Over the last five years, the playwrights and directors have been very pleased with the experience, because in the end it gives them a really great opportunity to see their work in front of sophisticated theatergoing audience. That’s how as a playwright you learn what’s working and what isn’t.”

While all tickets are free if purchased in person at the theater’s box office, there is a $5 handling fee for reservations made online or over the phone. Any tickets not picked up 10 minutes prior to each reading will be released to standbys.

A debate over the East Hampton Library’s annual Authors Night fund-raiser highlighted a schism on the East Hampton Town Board last Thursday, with one member siding with Amagansett residents who oppose holding the two-day event in their hamlet.

Holding Authors Night at 555 Montauk Highway, a 19-acre property purchased by the town in 2014 with community preservation fund money, is a “slap in the face to Amagansett residents,” said Jim MacMillan, chairman of the hamlet’s citizens advisory committee. “People like it as the low-key place it is,” he said, recalling the uproar over a 2011 proposal for a music festival at the site and a later plan, put forth by its then-owner, for an upscale housing development for senior citizens. Both were ultimately abandoned, though 555 does host the annual Soldier Ride, a benefit for the Wounded Warrior Project. 

Authors Night, along with a children’s fair on the following day, was held at the 555 Montauk Highway site for the first time last August. Previously, it had taken place on the field at 4 Maidstone Lane in East Hampton Village. That space, which is private property, is no longer available. 

Mr. MacMillan recalled that Larry Cantwell, who was then town supervisor and the town board’s liaison to the advisory committee, had been receptive to the community’s wishes for the 555 property, namely the preservation of open space. “Once Larry left, all those plans seem to have vanished,” he said. “Next thing, a private fund-raising event for East Hampton Library, attracting 2,000 cars.” He complained that last year Councilman David Lys, the current liaison, had brought the plan to hold Authors Night in the hamlet to the committee “as a done deal, end of discussion.” 

The committee’s feelings were not relayed to the town board, he said, nor did the board explain its decision. “That weekend was a dangerous situation,” Mr. MacMillan said, describing a hamlet overwhelmed by traffic. It was more than a safety issue, he said, predicting that events at 555 Montauk Highway “will depreciate the value of our properties. We were quite surprised to hear the applicant was back a second time this year. . . . We have no representation for Amagansett on the town board. We don’t want it spoiled by people who don’t live here.” 

He asked that the board not approve Authors Night at the 555 property, “and show the community that you are listening to us.” 

John Broderick, another member of the Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee, suggested that Soldier Ride was “a precedent to allow the library benefit, which last year was presented to us as a done deal.” Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc disagreed, telling Mr. Broderick that Authors Night had been discussed at several of the board’s work sessions. “I wouldn’t say there was no opportunity for the public” to make its views known, he said. 

“A large majority of people on the C.A.C. knew nothing,” Mr. Broderick said. 

Councilman Jeff Bragman, who has regularly disagreed with his fellow town board members, sided with Mr. MacMillan and Mr. Broderick. “I think Soldier Ride is a recreational event and does fit with the purpose we bought [555] for,” he said, but “I happen to agree with these Amagansett residents.” The land was purchased to preserve open space and for agricultural and recreational purposes, he noted. “That does not include an elegant cocktail party for the library. . . . I would prefer them to find another location. To me, it’s not recreation, it’s not agricultural, it’s not open space.”

Soldier Ride is a fund-raiser, Mr. Van Scoyoc said, in which participants leave the property, cycle along a route, and return at its conclusion. There is “no better purpose” for such a site than an event to promote libraries and literacy, he said.

“When we sit as town board members, we also have an obligation to honor the commitment we made when we used taxpayer money” to purchase property, Mr. Bragman said. “I don’t think the library, worthy as it is, belongs on this property. They are making money on land that we preserved for open space and agriculture.”

Mr. Bragman had a point, said Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, “but the library is also a tax-supported institution. When we can raise funds for it, this is an appropriate way” to do so. “It’s part of our community character. Our library is important to us. . . . I think it’s important to continue to have that fund-raiser.” Moreover, she said, she herself attended Authors Night last year and “saw no disruption,” nor increased traffic on back roads, as Mr. MacMillan described. 

Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez said that the children’s fair attracts an even larger crowd than Authors Night, “and it’s free. You’re saying it’s a fund-raising event,” she said. “It’s free.” 

Few sites in the town can accommodate an event as large as Authors Night, Mr. Van Scoyoc said. “It was very problematic where it was in the village,” he said, citing a shortage of parking and the need to shuttle people between the event and the Main Beach parking lot. “Most of us have consistently viewed this property as one that contained Soldier Ride.” Apparently,” he said, Mr. Bragman “has no problem with that continuing to exist.”

  For 362 days a year, there is no activity on the 555 site, the supervisor pointed out. Further, he said, the board is charged with balancing the various interests and demands of the entire community. There are some in Amagansett who do not feel Authors Night is an appropriate use of the site, as well as “quite a few who do,” he said. “We heard from them last year.”

“What’s most troubling,” Mr. Broderick countered, “is, the end game is obviously setting us up” to host many more events at 555. “Now it’s precedented in.” The way the matter has been handled has left him feeling “a little dopey,” he said. “First, because I feel we were treated like dopes last year . . . but now I feel dopey in entrusting you with the management of this property.” 

Mr. Van Scoyoc asked if Mr. Broderick was aware of a proposal to store modular housing units on the site for up to three months. That had been presented to the advisory committee, Mr. Broderick replied, and no objections were raised. 

“Where does that fit into open space?” the supervisor asked. 

Mr. Bragman took exception to the question. “It’s sort of disappointing to have the community bludgeoned with that,” he said. “I really think they deserve some credit for going along with that on the theory that it’s temporary.” 

Later on, the board voted to authorize special-event permits to hold Authors Night and the children’s fair at the 555 Montauk Highway site on Aug. 10 and 11, respectively. Mr. Bragman cast the lone dissenting vote.

The construction of a reimagined Sag Harbor Cinema Arts Center is swinging into its third and final phase and remains on target for a fall opening, as organizers now seek to raise an additional $3 million to $4 million in donations to cover some amendments to the original construction plan, in addition to the final furnishings, equipment, and staffing to make the center operational. 

If past is prologue, the two-plus-year-old community-driven effort to rebuild the Main Street landmark and restore its iconic neon sign will soar past this latest funding goal, too. 

Since a fire badly damaged the cinema and some surrounding buildings in December of 2016, more than 2,500 people have donated money to rebuild the cinema, and more than 90 percent of those donations have been under $1,000.

The thank-you page on the cinema’s website (sagharborcinema.org) additionally lists several hundred other contributors who have donated a wide array of goods, services, time, materials, building expertise, and design savvy to push the project toward completion. Donors have provided everything from the architectural plans to the fabric for the refurbished seats.

“The Sag Harbor-ness of this whole effort has been tremendous — there is a talent pool and experience pool of people here that is just staggering,” April Gornik, the head of the cinema’s executive board, said in an interview on Saturday. “Sometimes I wish I had a dime for every time somebody said, ‘Oh, raising money should be easy, there are so many millionaires out here.’ ”

“The reality is we’ve been so insanely lucky with the good will and understanding and support we’ve received from the entire community. And you don’t have to get on a soapbox and sell this to people. We’ve had so many, many amazing volunteers. We thank the people who give us $100 the same as someone who gives us $100,000 because it represents something for all of them.”

Ms. Gornik said that in the nearly 30 months that have passed since the original theater burned down, something happens almost daily to remind her of the emotional resonance the cinema still holds for people. She was speaking to someone on the street in Sag Harbor last week who told her, “My sister is still so upset about what happened she still tears up when she thinks about what [restoring] the place means to the community.”

“When I hear that, it’s like a B-12 shot of energy — it’s wonderful,” Ms. Gornik said. “People understand what was lost and it’s important to them for future generations, too.”

The additional money that organizers are now seeking will be used to cover a variety of expenses. 

Because more of the building was compromised by the fire than structural engineers were originally able to discern, contractors had to tweak the design and go back before the village architectural review board to make some needed changes. Once that happened, Ms. Gornik said, the cinema board decided it would be “crazy, while we were at that, not to expand the third-floor space. We had a smaller space planned there before. Now we’ll have offices and a bigger educational space.” 

In addition to those costs, money is also needed for administration and staff hires, the purchase of projectors and a state-of-the-art sound system, and equipment for the new concession stand and cafe. 

“The food service will be as eco-friendly as possible, locally sourced as possible, and reflect the East End community,” Ms. Gornik said.

All donations to the project are 100-percent tax deductible. Naming rights for various features in the building are also for sale. (The singer Billy Joel has already snagged naming rights for the popcorn concession.)

When the new cinema is done, it will feature three screening rooms rather than the one 480-seat theater it had before the fire. The first-floor space will now be divided into one large-screen theater and a second, more intimate repertory theater. The second floor will feature a 40-seat screening room and classroom. The third floor will have offices, a small lounge, and perhaps a virtual reality workspace.

In addition to programming a robust offering of international and art house movies, film festival fare and current releases, the new cinema will engage in educational outreach to local schools and residents. 

“In terms of restoration and in terms of what we will be able to provide for future generations, we’re very excited,” Ms. Gornik said.