New Dates Announced For Opening Night Of THE GRIFT

Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts has announced new dates for the start of The Grift, the immersive, site-specific theater experience written and directed by Tom Salamon, which is scheduled to be performed at Bay Street Theater and throughout Sag Harbor village. Performances of The Grift now begin Thursday, March 24, and continue through Sunday, April 3, with 12 shows over the course of its two-week run. Masks and proof of vaccination are required for entry into the theater. Tickets start at $39 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.

Part theater and part game, The Grift is an immersive, site-specific experience beginning and ending at Bay Street, and moving through several locations nearby in Sag Harbor. Dropping its audience of 50 per show into the middle of an adventure in which they are trained in the art of the con, participants meet characters, solve clues, and get a master class in the ways of the grifter, all in the interest of pulling off one final grift to take down a seamy criminal mastermind. Audiences will have their intelligence tested and get trained in scams like The Pig In The Poke, The Round-The-Corner, and The Money Swap-but will they be sharp enough to take down an evil genius at his own game?

Joining The Grift is Ally Callaghan (Wendy), Elena Faverio (Jackie), Rachel Feldman (Eloise), Edward Kassar (Hammer), Joe Pallister (Danny), Gabriel Portuondo (Narrator), and Jonathan Silver (Grady).

The Grift premiered in 2015 to rave reviews and to sold-out performances in San Diego, produced by the Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse. Writer-director Tom Salamon makes his return after his other immersive UK successes, Accomplice (produced by the Tony Award-winning Menier Chocolate Factory) and Goosebumps Alive (The Vaults at Waterloo).

"We're so excited to be bringing immersive theater to the Hamptons, says Tom Salamon. "We think we'll be giving audiences something really new and unique that they haven't seen before."

An experience unlike anything ever performed on a stage, The Grift sweeps its audience into a thrilling adventure, turning everyday theatergoers into master cons. And when the show ends? They're released into the world with a whole new skill set-one that can pay off for years to come.

Ally Callaghan, a Long Island native, is thrilled to be making her Bay Street Theater debut! Recent adventures: You're On Mute (online improv show), Dragon Production Theatre Company's short play development, The Cathedral (Sundance), The High Captain (Cybertank), and a national Nathan's Hot Dog commercial (yum). Proud company member of Gone in 60, the International One Minute Theatre Festival. BFA Acting, Brooklyn College. allycallaghan.com

Elena Faverio is an actor, community advocate with LI United, and creator of artistic shenanigans on Youtube. Recent credits: Ken Ludwig's Baskerville (Theatre Three), Catching Fireflies (Don't Tell Mama NYC), Romeo and Juliet (Eastline Theatre), The Diary of Anne Frank (Patchogue Theatre). They are currently writing a musical called After the Flood about processing grief and the notion of home, and producing a documentary entitled 118 about activism and advocacy on Long Island. You can find their creative work at www.elenafaverio.com.

Rachel Feldman will be recognized by Bay Street audiences for her appearance in the 2017 Literature Live! production of Death of a Salesman. She has appeared in productions of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Uncle Vanya at the John Drew Theatre, Museum, Our Beds Are Crowded, White Paper, Gravid Water with Upright Citizens Brigade, and Try to Act Normal with 13th Street Repertory. Film and television credits include Ugly Betty, MTV's Made, As The World Turns, The Montauk House: A Period Piece, Kooks, and God's Gift. She received training with the American Academy of the Dramatic Arts and Upright Citizens Brigade, and is a graduate of the University of Miami.

Eddie Kassar has appeared at the John Drew Theater at Guild Hall as Denny in A Steady Rain; Marc in Art; and Lenny in Of Mice and Men. He starred in the Hampton Theater productions of Breaking Legs, My Three Angels, and others; Garfinkke in Other People's Money at the Ivoryton Playhouse (nominated for Best Actor Connecticut Critics Circle Awards); Knitting at The Ensemble Studio Theater; and La Ronde with the Willow Cabin Theater Company. Film credits include Mulligans Farm, 9 out of 10, Scallop Pond, Down Clown, If I didn't Care, Sushi Bar and others.

Joe Pallister is an AEA and SAG AFTRA actor who has joined Bay Street Theater for multiple 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, and Macbeth, 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.

Gabriel Portuondo is a Long Island-based actor and theater instructor, and member of AEA and SAG/AFTRA, who will be recognized by Bay Street audiences for his appearance as Banquo in the 2021 Literature Live! production of Macbeth. His work includes a number of productions with Shakespeare & Co. and the Inwood Shakespeare Festival, including performances of Hamlet, Othello, The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Richard III. He has starred in the one-man shows Urban Aura at Ma'at Production Association of Afrikan Centered Theatre in Chicago; and The Rime, an adaptation of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, most recently staged outdoors adjacent to the Montauk Lighthouse. He has appeared in the films Tenebrae Lux, American Bomber, and Autumn in New York. He is a member of the National Academy of Sports Medicine, a certified personal trainer and fitness instructor, a member of The Shakespeare Society, and founding member of Magis Theatre Company.

Jonathan Randell Silver is thrilled to be a part of The Grift at Bay Street Theater. This marks his third immersive show with creator Tom Salamon. The most recent was playing one of the wizards in the critically acclaimed Wizards of Oakwood Drive with La Jolla Playhouse. As an actor and magician, he's performed in theaters big and small in New York and around the country. He's also appeared many times on screens big and small around the globe. Jonathan hopes everyone is staying healthy and sane during these continually strange and difficult times. More info at JonathanRandellSilver.com.

Tom Salamon has been in the immersive experience world for 13 years, starting with his first show Accomplice: New York, widely regarded as a pioneering and influential work in the early days of immersive theater. In the years since, he has written and directed work in New York, London, Los Angeles, and San Diego, and produced work with Tony Award-winning theaters such as La Jolla Playhouse and Menier Chocolate Factory, as well as co-produced shows with Tony Award-winner Neil Patrick Harris. In 2020, upon commission by La Jolla Playhouse, Tom wrote and directed The Wizards Of Oakwood Drive, a live, Zoom-based online experience for young audiences. It was called "absolutely enchanting...a nice reminder of what theater can do, even remotely" by The New York Times, and "breezy and funny...an ambitious production that pushed the envelope of what's possible in the virtual format," by The San Diego Union Tribune. It continues its sold out run, entertaining audiences from nearly all 50 states and as far as Australia, Mexico, Denmark, and Brazil. In addition, he has developed an online experiential campaign for Comic Con 2020 for a major streaming network with a top experiential agency.

Bay Street Theater is a fully vaccinated company. All attendance is available via touchless ticketing. All guests must show proof of vaccination and will be required to wear a mask throughout the performance. For full list of COVID-19-related safety procedures and guidelines for in-person events, please visit us online at baystreet.org.

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.

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