Christopher Durang (Betty's Summer Vacation), David Ives (Lives of the Saints), Craig Lucas (The Dying Gaul) and Marsha Norman ('Night Mother) will be among the eight playwrights contributing short plays to Fit to Print, the final selection of the 1999 season at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, Long Island. For Print, the Bay Street has commissioned the octet to pen original one-acts on the subject of the news media.
The other scribes are Constance Congdon, Terry George, Wendy MacLeod and, in a surprise choice, Sidney Blumenthal, the former Clinton associate. Fit to Print will be directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge, replacing the previously announced John Rando. The cast, as yet unselected, will feature three men and two women, who will play all the parts. Fit to Print will run Aug. 11-Sept. 5.
*
In other Bay Street news, Mark Blum heads the cast of Something in the Air, a world premiere by Richard Dresser (Below the Belt), June 16-July 4.
Blum is frequent visitor to Sag Harbor. He has previously appeared in Bay Street's Men's Lives and Inspecting Carol. On Broadway, he has been seen in Lost in Yonkers; Off-Broadway in Mizlansky/Zilinsky. Something is described as a black comedy about life, death and the value of a good coat. Dresser, author of Below the Belt, has previously had his Alone at the Beach produced at the tony Long Island theatre. Recent OBIE winner Melia Bensussen (Turn of the Screw) will direct. Also in the cast are Jude Ciccoletta (Below the Belt), Anne O'Sullivan, Steven Weber ("Wings") and Janet Zarish (Scotland Road).
Also on Bay Street's schedule is The Factory Girls (July 14-Aug. 1) an American premiere by Frank McGuinness.
Kate Burton, recently on Broadway in The Beauty Queen of Leenane, will star in the American debut of The Factory Girls, McGuinness' first play. McGuinness, the author of Someone to Watch Over Me, is best known for his recent, celebrated adaptations of Sophocles' Electra and Ibsen's A Doll's House, both of which were performed on Broadway. Factory Girls, which is a co-production with the Williamstown Theatre Festival, will be directed by Nye Heron. Also in the cast are Malcolm Adams, Gretchen Cleevely, Christopher McHale, Rebecca Shull and Celia Weston.
Bay Street's annual Summer gala benefit bash will take place on July 10 and be hosted by Rosie O'Donnell.
In the past, the Bay Street has produced worlds premiere by Baitz, McNally and Wilson. Notable productions -- some of which have traveled to New York -- include Baitz's Three Hotels, Cynthia Ozick's The Shawl and Baitz and McNally's House.
-- By Robert Simonson
