Summer Dinner Theater, The Church’s annual benefit, will feature the renowned singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright, in her only East End performance this summer. The evening begins Saturday at 5:30 with cocktails, followed at 7 with dinner and remarks, and concluding with the show at 8:30. East Hampton’s Inda Eaton will take the stage during the cocktail hour.
The daughter of the folk singers Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III and sister of Rufus Wainwright, Martha grew up surrounded by such iconic performers as Anna McGarrigle, Leonard Cohen, Richard and Linda Thompson, Emmylou Harris, and more. After almost a decade of playing in bars, making cassettes to sell at her shows, singing backup for Rufus, practicing, and writing, she released her first self-titled album in 2005.
According to a BBC review, “Martha Wainwright does not disappoint. She has taken the folk tradition she was raised alongside and added a twist of poetic attitude that is unique, refreshing, and downright ballsy in parts. It’s an album of contrasts, a collaboration of vulnerable laments and tracks of fiery confidence.”
The singer herself has said, “My first record tells my story, and when it was finally released, I was able to work and tour and have a career in music.”
That career has included four other studio albums. The most recent is “Love Will Be Reborn” (2021), which, said Pitchfork’s reviewer, “feels at once bigger and smaller than her previous material, with each quiet rumination leading her toward grander musings on love, grief, and motherhood.”
In addition to her music career, Martha Wainwright is also an actress. She played a vocalist in Martin Scorsese’s “The Aviator” and was Angela O’Meara in the HBO special “Olive Kitteridge.”
The cocktail hour is a new addition to the Sag Harbor cultural center’s yearly benefit. Eaton, an Americana singer-songwriter whose shows blend music, storytelling, and reflection, has performed her mix of country, rock, folk, and pop on stages around the world. Big names for whom she has opened include John Hiatt, Blues Traveler, Earl Scruggs, Hootie and the Blowfish, and LeAnn Rimes.
Main floor tickets are $850 per person, $6,800 for a table of eight. Seats on the mezzanine are $650, $1,300 for a table for two. Both include the cocktail hour, dinner, and the performance. Tickets for cocktails only are $150.
