I’m kind of sad about Bay Street needing to move from its location on the Sag Harbor Long Wharf. I really love that building. What does the owner of the building think is going to happen when they move out? That magically somebody else is going to come in and solve all of his problems? I really wish the landlord and Bay Street Theater would work something out. It’s an iconic building in Sag Harbor. I don’t think that anybody really believes that Bay Street really is going to move, but as things stand right now, it very much is.
Contrary to some headlines, the theatre is not closing its doors. The theatre will celebrate its 21st season in 2012 in its current location on the Long Wharf in Sag Harbor. The lease is up in May, 2013, so the 22nd season will take place at a new or temporary facility.
“The long term goal,” says Murphy Davis who is one of the Artistic Directors for Bay Street Theatre, “is to find or create a permanent home. It is a major expense each year to rent the current space, the Riverhead shop where we build the sets and the rent for our actors and production crew each summer. The combined total is going to be up to $500,000 a year just in rents.”
Sybil Christopher, Artistic Director, added “There isn’t a not for profit theatre anywhere that can sustain that kind of financial impact each year.”
Bay Street is a year-round presence on the East End, offering everything from live theatre to comedy, from live music to The Picture Show, serving up classic films from September to May. Bay Street’s educational outreach initiatives include a 20 student College Internship program, musical theater camps for kids, and the already popular LITERATURE LIVE production, now in its third year. This year’s selection TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD runs from November 7-26 and includes local talent such as Lily Spellman, Susan Galardi and her son Hudson among others. So far over 1,500 students from local and regional schools are booked to attend. Tickets are $10 for kids and $20 for adults. The show is recommended for ages 13 and up.
Celebrities that have performed at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor are Susan Sarandon, Jimmy Buffett, Billy Joel, Bob Balaban, Mercedes Ruhel, Harry Belafonte, Alec Baldwin, Darrell Hammond, Lewis Black and countless others.
Tax deductible contributions can help ensure that Bay Street remains strong, as CBS Sunday Morning reported “one of the country’s pre-eminent regional theaters”. These contributions are essential to the theater’s mission to “entertain, inspire and enhance the cultural arts for the East End and beyond”. Donations can be made by sending a check to Bay Street Theater, PO Box 810, Sag Harbor NY 11963 or donate on line at www.baystreet.org.
Send Bay Street Theater money folks, the arts are important!
Dear Dan,
Bay Street Theatre is a wonderful addition to the community and to the ambiance of Sag Harbor. It’s current location is nothing short of perfect. It is hard to imagine matching it. I would love to see the theatre remain where it is.
Perhaps, a wealthy community member who agrees that the community is much-enhanced by the theatre’s current location could earmark a large donationto the Bay Street Theatre with a condition that the donation is only available for use so long as the theatre remains where it is. For example, one could donate one million dollars to be paid out for one half million dollars per year for two years with the condition that the theatre remain where it is. Should it move during the two year period, the money would have to be refunded.
This large donation would benefit Bay Street Theatre and the community.
Another solution would be to do a capital project to purchase the current location if the seller is willing to sell. If the entire building could not be purchased, perhaps an extremely long-term lease or a condo type of arrangement would serve.
What do you think?
Sincerely,
Carolyn Zenk
Attorney at Law, Hampton Bays
Former Southampton Town Councilwoman
Carolyn,
David wrote the article, not Dan grrr…
The whole Dan’s Daily is written by me. Give a son some credit!
If you still want to know what I think in terms of your suggestions, both ideas are great, but far fetched if you ask me. There are countless institutions in the Hamptons that could be saved by a magical rich person who feels like throwing money at it. I’ve seen that request many times before, from a struggling small town pharmacy to a collapsing Bulova building. It’s a very rare day for a uber-rich person to just solve the financial problems of a business because they like having the business around. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, but that’s not a real plan on how to solve something, that’s a dream.
In terms of buying the building, I highly doubt the owner of that building wants to sell. It sounds to me like he wants it rented out to a reliable renter. If he were to put it up for sale though, I think it would be in the interest of Bay Street to buy it, but they’d have to come up with the money, which I don’t think they have, so that’s a Catch-22 as well.
What’s going to happen is that Bay Street will move some place else, and that building will get rented by somebody else after remaining vacant for over a year. Either that or the owner will rent it out himself on a weekly basis to small theater groups. That’s just my opinion. I think it’s terrible. I think that the owner and the renter should come to an agreement that makes financial sense. I don’t think the owner is taking into account how much money he will lose in lost rent and how hard it will be to rent a space like that in this market.
Dave
Well, I am so excited that I have found your post beacsue I have been searching for some information on this for almost three hours! You’ve helped me a lot indeed and by scaning this story I have located many new and useful info about this subject!