DEAR EVAN HANSEN Opens at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor

Bay Street Theater celebrated the opening night of Dear Evan Hansen on Saturday, August 8, bringing one of the most talked-about musicals of its generation to the theater's intimate Sag Harbor stage as part of its 35th Anniversary Summer Season.

Opening Night Attendees included Broadway Director, Walter Bobbie; Broadway performer Kyle Barasich, Bay Street Board of Trustee members: Lynn Mestel (Chair), Jennifer Bartley, David Fink, John Frawley, Keith Green, Myra Hackel, Riki Kane Larimer, Loretta Kaufman, Stewart Lane, Nina Lesavoy, Elise Leve, Leslie Mayer, Laura McPhail, and Steve Todrys; Also attending were founders Emma Walton Hamilton and Steve Hamilton; Junior Board member Corey Werbelow; and former Board members Patty Baker and Steve Sanders. In addition, supporters Rose Caiola and Sean McGill attended representing the Caiola-McGill Foundation who provided major support for this production as well as Board member Riki Kane Larimer.

Directed by Bay Street Theater Artistic Director Scott Schwartz, the production brings audiences close to the families, friendships, humor, and emotional complexities at the heart of the Tony Award-winning musical.

Featuring a book by Steven Levenson and music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Dear Evan Hansen follows a high school student who becomes caught in a rapidly escalating misunderstanding following the death of a classmate. What begins as an attempt to comfort a grieving family grows into a deeply human story about identity, belonging, loneliness, family, and the need to feel seen.

“Dear Evan Hansen is a story about people reaching for one another, sometimes imperfectly, during moments of grief, fear, and isolation,” said Scott Schwartz, Artistic Director of Bay Street Theater and director of the production. “Our goal was to bring audiences closer to the characters and allow the honesty, humor, and humanity of the story to lead the way. In Bay

Street's intimate theater, the audience is not observing these families from a distance. We are together in the room with them, sharing in their need for connection, forgiveness, and hope.”

Bay Street Theater is extending those conversations beyond the stage through special audience and community programming connected to the production.

Talkback Tuesdays invite audience members to remain after select performances for conversations about the production and the themes it explores. Talkbacks are included with admission to that evening's performance.

On Friday, August 14, Bay Street Theater will host Dear Social Media: The Search for Identity, Connection & Belonging, presented by The Kind Mind, from 5 to 7 p.m. The presentation and reception will examine the promise and perils of internet use and its impact on young people's mental health, including questions of identity, comparison, cyberbullying, community, and belonging.

Dear Social Media is a separately ticketed event and does not include admission to the evening performance of Dear Evan Hansen. Tickets to the production are sold separately.

Bay Street will also host a second Going Solo Night on Friday, August 14. Guests attending the performance on their own are invited to arrive at 7 p.m. for complimentary wine from Channing Daughters Winery, meet other theatergoers, and enjoy the 8 p.m. performance. Tickets may be purchased using the promotional code SOLO.

Need more Long Island Theatre News in your life?
Sign up for all the news on the Summer season, discounts & more...