Sixteen-year-old Daniel has been sent to spend the summer with his grandfather in a beach town along the East Coast, where the locals don't look kindly on city kids. There, he meets the beguiling 17-year-old Izzy.
That's the setting for "Indian Summer," Bay Street Theater's special three-day intern production that opens Thursday at 3 p.m. An intern-run show was once a regular feature at Bay Street, serving as an educational opportunity for apprentices working at the theater. This production signals its return to the main stage.
The play, described as a "feisty romantic comedy," was written by Gregory S. Moss and will be directed by Cameron King, a 24-year-old directing associate at the Sag Harbor theater.
There's a backstage story, too, that could be equally compelling: Ms. King, a recent graduate of Carnegie Mellon University's B.F.A. directing program, is the daughter of the Emmy Award-winning television director, producer, writer, and actor Don Roy King, who will play Daniel's grandfather in this production. It marks his return to acting -- "my first passion," said Mr. King during a phone call -- after a 53-year-long career in television production, including the last 16 as a director of "Saturday Night Live." An ankle injury forced him to retire last year, he said, which made him unhappy until his daughter cast him in the role of the septuagenarian granddad. "I guess there were no 70-year-old interns at the theater," he said, with a laugh.
As for returning to acting and being directed by his daughter, Mr. King said, "It's been thrilling for both those reasons. It was the best retirement gift she could have possibly given me. And she's an amazing director. She's good at this; better at it than I was."
Ms. King first discovered the play in a 2016 production at Playwrights Horizons in New York City, she said over Zoom. "It stuck with me because it's really an ode to what it means to have a summer home and what a sleepy summer town can mean for a local versus someone who uses it to get away from their real life. When those two narratives clash, the tension and misunderstandings that can come from that, and the love, and the understanding that can also blossom through by working out the differences of being a local versus being a tourist . . . it's a beautiful love story. And it's told through the perspective of an older man who has just lost his wife and is about to settle into the final act of his existence. All of this really made me feel like it would be perfect for Bay Street and Bay Street's audiences," she said.
Ms. King moved to Sag Harbor during the pandemic, and then, after graduating from college, began working with Bay Street Theater as well as an assortment of productions around the country.
"I'm kind of a resident artist" at Bay Street, she explained. "And this production is something that was kind of gifted to me by Scott Schwartz back in November of 2021. He wanted to be sure I got a real project here, something that I could fully say is mine." Although "Indian Summer" was not written as a musical, she added her own flourish. "We've added a singer to sing some Connie Francis tunes," she said.
Joining her father onstage ("I've actually got butterflies," he admitted) is Jake Anderson, a young actor who graduated last year from Northwestern University's theater program, as Daniel. Anna Schiavoni, a 20-year-old junior theater major and music minor at the George Washington University, plays Izzy, and Eli Mayer takes on the role of Jeremy, Izzy's muscle brah of a boyfriend.
Showtimes are Thursday at 3 p.m.; Friday and Saturday at 4 p.m. Tickets are $20, available online or at the box office.
