Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts is pleased to announce the return of Literature Live! with the staged virtual premiere of Shakespeare's Macbeth on Tuesday, November 9, at 8 p.m., followed by a talkback between the show's creators and actors. The Literature Live! presentation of Macbeth will be available via on-demand streaming starting Monday, November 8, through Sunday, December 5.
Tickets are $20 for the public and are available through the Box Office by calling 631 725 9500 Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. or 24/7 at baystreet.org. Group presentations are free for schools and teachers through generous donor support, and a major gift from the Century Arts Foundation. School groups can sign up by contacting Director of Education and Community Outreach, Allen O'Reilly, at allen@baystreet.org.
Set in 1963 Scotland, the Literature Live! adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth introduces a modern retelling of the seminal tragedy with no alterations to the original compelling text. One part Macbeth and one part One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, this Literature Live! staging replaces the lofty setting of Castle Inverness for a chilling and sterile Sanitorium, within the confines of which the play's dramatic scenes unfold. Prior to the premiere, Macbeth will be filmed live on stage at Bay Street Theater and edited as a theatrical production, and will be available to schools via on-demand live streaming starting Monday, November 8, through Sunday, December 5.
Directed by Bay Street's Director of Education and Community Outreach, Allen O'Reilly, the Literature Live! adaptation of Macbeth will feature seven actors who play a total of 24 roles, including many who have appeared in past Literature Live! stagings. The cast includes:
Matthew Henerson (Macbeth); Erin Margaret Pettigrew (Lady Macbeth); Genevieve Simon (Malcolm);
Joe Pallister (Macduff); Allen O'Reilly (King Duncan); Teresa DeBerry (Ross and Witch); and Gabe Portuondo (Banquo).
"Macbeth is a piece that I have worked on numerous times as both an actor and director," says Director Allen O'Reilly. "Yet every time I revisit this play I find nuance and depth that gives the words a fresh feel. I am thrilled to take my next journey with Shakespeare's masterpiece alongside the extremely talented artists here at Bay Street!"
Allen O'Reilly has directed productions of The Crucible, Twelfth Night, The Woman in Black, Driving Miss Daisy, Rumors, Babe in Toyland and Bard's Best! (adaptor). Shakespeare Touring productions include Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar. Children's theater directing credits include Jungle Book, The Emperor and The Nightingale, Mighty Myths and Legends! (co-adaptor) and The Frog Prince. Allen has acted at Bay Street Theater,
Cleveland Play House, Geva Theatre,
Clarence Brown, and The
Alliance Theatre, and was an associate artist at Georgia Shakespeare for 24 seasons. Television and film credits include Sleepy Hollow, TURN: Washington's Spies,
Bobby Jones, Stroke of Genius, The Assassin's Code, The Enormity of Life and The Wicked Trilogy.
Matthew Henerson is an actor born and based in Los Angeles. He has worked regionally at many theatres including American Citizens Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, Antaeus, the Independent Shakespeare Company, International City Theatre, Kingsmen Shakespeare, La Jolla Playhouse, Pacific Repertory, San Diego Repertory, Sierra Repertory,
South Coast Repertory as well as at Shakespeare festivals in Arizona, Colorado, Marin, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and Utah. In over 50 productions of Shakespeare, he has played Macbeth, Leontes, Shylock, Caliban, Sir Toby Belch, Lear's Fool, and Alcibiades in Timon of Athens. His film and television work includes appearances on The Bernie Mac Show, Hung, Torn Apart (Lifetime), America 101, Disney's A Christmas Carol and Mars Needs Moms. He holds a BA in English from Yale and an MFA in Acting from the University of California, San Diego.
Erin Margaret Pettigrew is a first generation Belizean-American artist, actor, and mover from Los Angeles, California. She holds a BFA and MFA in Acting from UC Santa-Barbara and The
New School University. Based in New York, she has had the pleasure of developing her artist's journey alongside creators, collaborators, and facilitators at Manhattan Theater Club, New York Theater Workshop, Joe's Pub at The Public, La Mama Experimental Theater, JAG Productions, CUNY's CASA Program, Brooklyn College, and others. Her passion for arts in humanities has inspired and encouraged her to pursue arts in education. It is through story and storytelling that the development of the future, the mind, the body, and the soul, has a path. Together with her communities, collaborators, and tribe, she dedicates her art and craft to the hope, healing, and heralding of love, light, and endless dreams.
Genevieve Simon an actor and writer based in New York. They performed the title role in Hamlet at Nebraska Shakespeare Festival, and have helped playwrights develop new work at
Ensemble Studio Theatre, New Georges, Columbia University, and The Tank. Regional theatre credits include: The Thanksgiving Play (Urbanite Theatre), Adaptive Radiation (Denizen Theatre), This Is A Mortality Play Set In An Office Depot (Urbanite Theatre), Henry IV Part I (International Shakespeare Center Santa Fe with Tabling: The Podcast), and All's Well That Ends Well (Nebraska Shakespeare). Next up: a lead role in the short film Crow God from Live Source Films.
Joe Pallister is an AEA and SAG AFTRA actor who has joined Bay Street Theater for five productions, including the 2010 Mainstage production of
David Mamet's Romance, and the Literature Live! productions of A Raisin in the Sun, Of Mice and Men, and To Kill A Mockingbird, among others. Other theater credits include the Hampton Theatre Company productions of Clybourne Park, God of Carnage, and The Drawer Boy, and the Guild Hall productions of Art and A Steady Rain. Television credits include The Flight Attendant, FBI, Blacklist, Conan O'Brien, and Saturday Night Live. Film credits include Confidence Game, Dark Was The Night, Refuge, and The Burningmoore Incident.
Now in its thirteenth year, Literature Live! is a BOCES-approved Arts-in-Education program designed specifically with middle and high school age students, their teachers, and administrators in mind. Plays are chosen from standards-based literature and are supported with teacher-developed lesson plans and reference materials. All performances are approximately 90 minutes in length, and provided free of charge to any school group, their teachers, and administrators. In the past, schools from as far west as Hempstead and Brentwood have enjoyed Literature Live! productions, and additional showings for those with special needs, including the Cleary School for the Deaf, have been provided, as well. With over 30,000 students and nearly 60 schools participating, Literature Live! remains a cornerstone of Bay Street's Educational outreach programming.
Literature Live! at Bay Street Theater is made possible by (list in progress): Century Arts Foundation; Irvin Stern Foundation, Sunny & Abe Rosenberg Foundation; The Neuwirth Foundation; Suffolk County Department of Economic Development and Planning; The Dana Foundation; The Town of Southampton; and Bridgehampton Association. The presentation of Macbeth is sponsored, in part by Sag Harbor Books, Emil Norsic & Son, Inc., and the Jewish Center of the Hamptons.
Bay Street Theater is a year-round, not-for-profit professional theater and community cultural center, which endeavors to innovate, educate, and entertain a diverse community through the practice of the performing arts. It serves as a social and cultural gathering place, an educational resource, and a home for a community of artists.
