Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor offers workshops in everything from improv to dance to auditioning for the camera, but starting next Thursday it will provide instruction in something different: the art of the confidence game.
“The Grift” is not a workshop but rather an immersive, site-specific experience conceived, written, and directed by Tom Salamon that will unfold on the streets of Sag Harbor.
“Throughout the show, people will learn actual cons that have these really flavorful names like Pig in the Poke, Round-the-Corner, or the Money Swap,” said Mr. Salamon during a phone call from Scotland, where he had finishing directing an immersive pop-up event to promote the upcoming season of “Outlander.”
“You learn how to do these actual things throughout the course of the show in the interest of becoming a master con artist in order to bring down a criminal mastermind at his own game in the finale.”
Audiences of 50 will be divided into five groups of 10 at the theater before moving through several locations in Sag Harbor, where they will meet characters who will teach them the cons. “Then they will execute them on the spot until they’ve mastered them,” said Mr. Salamon.
The shady characters in the village will be played by Ally Callaghan, Elena Faverio, Rachel Feldman, Edward Kassar, Joe Pallister, Gabriel Portuondo, and Jonathan Silver.
“The Grift” premiered in San Diego in 2015 and had a second iteration at a hotel in London in 2018, where What’s On Stage called it “a quirky, ingenious and altogether delightful piece of entertainment.”
Mr. Salamon created his first immersive experience, “Accomplice,” in New York City in 2005. Since then he has created events for Walt Disney Imagineering, Netflix, and the Amazon Prime Video Experience, among others.
Performances will take place Thursdays at 7 p.m., Fridays at 8, Saturdays at 2 and 8, and Sundays at 2 and 7, through April 3. Tickets start at $39.
In the meantime, Bay Street will launch a six-week on-camera acting workshop, live and in person at the theater, on Saturday at 10 a.m. The class will be led by Meghan Rafferty, a New York casting director and actor with 17 years of experience working with directors, writers, and producers in the television and film industries.
Each week participants will be given a new scene to work on, with one week focused on "cold reading," for which students will have only 20 minutes to prepare. Ms. Rafferty will provide feedback on each scene and advise students on all aspects of self-taping and how to send an audition tape to casting directors.
Registration is $300 for six sessions, which will be held Saturday mornings through April 23.
