Hampton Theatre Company Turns 30

James Irving and James Ewing once had more common ground than simply their first names.

They were fascinated by Russian mysticism. They fostered a sense of adventure. And they both loved theater—so much so that they founded their own company.

Their first production, with the help of Mr. Ewing’s mother, June, and 15 cast and crew, was staged at the Westhampton Beach Middle School for an audience of 150—averaging approximately 25 patrons each performance.

It was modest, but it was something, Mr. Ewing recently reminisced at his home in Southampton. The seed for an East End theater scene west of the canal, was officially planted.

And three decades later, it is in full bloom.

“I think we broke a lot of new ground,” Mr. Ewing said of what has become the Hampton Theatre Company, the Quogue-based troupe that is kicking off its 30th season with Mary Chase’s classic comedy “Harvey” on October 23. “Once we started going, it really had a lot of energy. Right from the beginning.”

The year was 1983. Mr. Ewing had returned to his childhood home in Westhampton with Mr. Irving, whom he met while studying the teachings of Ouspensky and Gurdjieff during a 10-year stint at a monastery in California.

The men’s theater careers formally began there. They would put on shows for their community of 600, which provided them with an instant cast, crew and audience.

They didn’t have such luck in Westhampton—but they had the drive.

“We were feeling kind of empty, so the conversation started: ‘Why don’t we put on a show? Let’s put on a show,’” Mr. Ewing said. “We both latched onto the idea, and that was the impulse.”

The production was “The Diary of Anne Frank”—a somber choice, yet an appropriate one, Mr. Ewing explained. He liked the “idea of expressing the spirit under enormous opposition,” he said. It was a theme worth exploring, he said, and one worth studying.

“What is the human spirit capable of in difficult situations? That was kind of the way I was feeling at the time,” he said. “I think we can all relate to that—the difficulty of being alive, the challenge of life.”

In two weekends and six performances, the production came to a close, leaving the three co-founders still wanting more, even though they never planned beyond a show or two. By 1986, the company had staged three more plays and secured a core group of actors, among them Rosemary Cline and Diana Marbury.

That didn’t mean they were any more prepared for their second official season, Ms. Marbury laughed on Monday during a telephone interview. It was the coldest August in Long Island history, she said, and they were staging “Hot L Baltimore” in a tent behind the Masonic Lodge in Westhampton.

To make matters worse, during the second weekend, the area received a hurricane warning—with the winds and rains to back it up. “Try holding up a tent while the water’s pouring in,” Ms. Marbury reminisced. “It was quite an adventure. It’s all been quite an adventure.”

By 1987, the theater company found a permanent home inside the Quogue Community Hall and a serious, professional director, Jane Stanton. “She knew her stuff,” Ms. Marbury reported. “She was an amazing force in the company.”

Ms. Stanton whipped the troupe into shape and, three years later, found herself calling one Sarah Hunnewell with an invitation to audition for the company’s production of “The Dining Room.”

Sort of.

“She said, ‘Get out here, Sarah—we need a WASP!’” Ms. Hunnewell said during a recent interview. “I was, like, ‘I can do that.’”

She burst out laughing, evoking a smile from Mr. Ewing, seated across from her in their living room in Southampton. The Hampton Theatre Company brought them together in 1992—two years after Ms. Hunnewell’s East End debut.

Ms. Stanton, who retired 10 years ago at age 85 and moved to California, also gave other company members their shot at directing. It didn’t take long for Ms. Hunnewell to insist on assisting her beau. And it also wasn’t long before he’d had enough. “I was so bossy and pushy,” Ms. Hunnewell said.

“I couldn’t stand it,” Mr. Ewing interrupted. “I said, ‘You take over. Get me out of here.’ Now, that’s why it’s just her.”

“I’m such a control freak that I figured directing was a good thing for me,” she said.

Come January 2015, Ms. Hunnewell will take charge of this season’s second production, “Time Stands Still,” a hard-hitting drama from Donald Margulies that follows the story of a photojournalist struggling to find inner peace while fighting an addiction to the adrenaline-filled front lines of battle.

The company’s play reading committee decided to keep the winter somber and thought-provoking by serving up two dramas back to back. The second, in March, Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning “Clybourne Park” by Bruce Norris, will explore racism, followed by Noel Coward’s “Hay Fever” rounding out the season in May with high farce and classic laughs.

“We have a great season ahead of us,” Ms. Hunnewell said. “And somehow, it all comes together in the end. We always say the theater gods watch out for us—although the audience loves disasters.”

“There’s a principle happening in the theater,” Mr. Ewing added, “that it just works out and the show goes on. I think the real joy is when it’s up.”

He paused, thoughtfully, and continued, “All of this happened so fast. It took on a life of its own. We didn’t plan to do much more than one or two shows. You start something, but then it takes hold of you. That’s it. It’s guiding you. It’s guiding us.”

For more information about the Hampton Theatre Company’s 30th season, call (631) 653-8955, or visit hamptontheatre.org.