From all appearances, Karen and Barry Mason seemed like a regular suburban couple raising three kids in Los Angeles. But for decades, up until this year, they ran the largest gay porn emporium in that city, and for a time were the biggest distributors in the United States, even producing their own films.

Something of a supergroup will assemble on the stage at the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett on Wednesday at 8 p.m. At its center, will be the singer and songwriter LeRoy Bell.

“Hearts Aflame: Love Letters and Torch Songs” will feature a dozen prominent actors reading passionate communiqués ranging from 12th-century letters to contemporary emails in a benefit performance at Guild Hall on Sunday evening at 7.

Amanda Ayala has performed on big stages in Nashville, New York City, Hollywood, and Orlando, Fla., and smaller stages throughout the Northeast, but never in East Hampton.

Two staged readings featuring award-winning actors, two exotic musical mash-ups, and a discussion about the state of the art world will keep Guild Hall hopping this week.

“Summer Rental,” a group exhibition organized by the curator, writer, and art dealer Kenny Schachter, will open Saturday at the Rental Gallery in East Hampton with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. “The show is a love letter to summers, and a celebration of life, family, art, and . . . vacations!” according to a release. It will continue through Sept. 30.

Shakespeare al fresco in Southampton, college in prison, a photographer's talk, and much more.

“I was one of the first people to kind of take things out of the trash," said Todd Merrill of his early acquisitions of the modern furniture Christie’s and Sotheby’s auction houses would dump at Tepper Galleries in New York,

Blending an eclectic medley of classical music with beautiful outdoor settings, Music for Montauk’s summer series will present four programs from Thursday through Aug. 23, three of which are free to the public.

“Love is a battlefield,” Pat Benatar sang about the bumpy path to romance in her 1983 hit, while a few centuries earlier Shakespeare wrote about it in his most popular of plays, “Romeo and Juliet.” These two powerhouses of music and literature will collide Friday and Saturday at Mashashimuet Park in Sag Harbor.