Between 1980 and 1990, Steve Guttenberg performed in more movies than any other actor in the Screen Actors Guild. Among them was Barry Levinson's 1982 comedy-drama "Diner," which helped propel Mr. Guttenberg to fame along with the other 20-something actors Kevin Bacon, Paul Reiser, Mickey Rourke, and Ellen Barkin. The hits "Cocoon" and "Police Academy" followed soon after.
Mr. Guttenberg's first play, "Tales From the Guttenberg Bible," will open on Aug. 5 at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, with previews set for Tuesday through Friday, Aug. 4. A co-production with George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, N.J., the play stars Mr. Guttenberg as himself, and follows him from his boyhood home in Massapequa to Hollywood.
Lest he carry the acting load alone, the play features three other actors, Carine Montbertrand, Dan Domingues, and Arnie Burton, who among them play no fewer than 90 roles, including Mr. Guttenberg's parents, his agents, and such notables as Merv Griffin, Ron Howard, Lord Laurence Olivier, and Ted Danson.
"It's so amusing," said Scott Schwartz, Bay Street's artistic director, "because they are transforming, transforming, transforming constantly. It's very theatrical."
David Saint, the artistic director of George Street Playhouse, is the director at Bay Street, as he was in New Brunswick. When the play ran there in May, Marina Kennedy of Broadway World called it a "must-see show. . . . You will be amazed and entertained."
While "Tales" is his first effort as a playwright, in 2012 Mr. Guttenberg published "The Guttenberg Bible: A Memoir." Some eight years ago, Julian Schlossberg, a producer and friend, suggested the actor turn his stories into a play.
"What came from it was a 300-page story with all my movies and all my personal stories about leaving home at such a young age," Mr. Guttenberg said during a telephone conversation. He did much of the writing at the bedside of his father, whose health problems stemmed from kidney failure. "My dad helped me write some of it, and he read it while he was lying in bed."
Edited to 68 pages, the play went to several artistic directors, Mr. Saint among them. "David said, 'I'm stepping up. I'm going to make this.' He and Scott Schwartz are friends and wanted to do something together. That's how it all came about."
"It's really charming, and really funny," said Mr. Schwartz, "and you've got Steve Guttenberg. When he walks out at the top of the show, everyone claps. It's a wonderful, light, diverting evening about a really good and decent guy making his way in a not so decent world. So it's heartening, and hopeful as well."
With tongue only slightly in cheek, Mr. Guttenberg likened the play to "Candide," "Tom Jones," or "Alice in Wonderland." "It's about supporting somebody who has a dream, and about the trepidation of sending your son far away. It's about the ingenue leaving the cave and going out into the jungle, the plateau, and meeting all these different characters and shape-shifters and helpers and people who are not helping you."
More than once, he emphasized that "Tales" is about family, a subject in which he is deeply and emotionally invested. When his father fell ill five years ago, Mr. Guttenberg spent seven hours traveling 800 miles a week back and forth from Los Angeles to Arizona, where his father lived. Eventually he and his sister learned how to become dialysis technicians so they could treat their father at his home.
Mr. Guttenberg is currently writing "Time to Think," a book about caregiving. "There are 40 million caregivers in this country," he said. "Over ten percent of the population is caring for someone they love."
While he grew up on Long Island, and as a young man went clamming and crabbing on the North Fork and in the Great South Bay, he has never had a home on the East End. "I frankly didn’t know there was a Hamptons, the way the Hamptons was set up, until I was 21. Then I was invited out there to Hollywood parties, and thought it was Hollywood East. It was quite eye-opening for me at 21."
Of performing live, he said, "I love repetition, I love performing live. Through repetition, you get better and better. Every time the audience comes, they see a better version of the play."
While he acknowledged that cynicism and sarcasm can be funny and entertaining, "sometimes kindness, goodness, thoughtfulness, family, good old-fashioned fun, can be entertaining. I believe we have a play that is accessible. I think we're going to entertain and educate, and it's going to be a great evening."
Performances will take place through Aug. 27 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays at 7 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays at 8. Matinees are set for Wednesdays and Sundays beginning Aug. 9. Tickets start at $69.99.
