1 Photo
The world of playwright Anton Chekhov is one populated by a class-conscious society, and his four major plays—“Uncle Vanya,” “Three Sisters,” “The Cherry Orchard” and “The Seagull”—offer insight into the lives of 19th century Russian aristocracy during changing times.And while 19th century Russia would appear to have little in common with 21st century Eastern Long Island, this weekend an updated version of “The Seagull” will be presented at Bay Street Theater. This bird is set to roost not on an estate in Chekhov’s homeland but rather at the home of a prominent family in Eastville, Sag Harbor’s historically African-American neighborhood by the bay.
“A Seagull in the Harbor” is playwright Emily Mann’s adaptation of Chekhov’s original, and on Saturday, May 5, at 2 p.m., it will be presented as a reading directed by Stephen Hamilton in conjunction with “Title Wave at Bay Street: The Fifth Annual New Works Festival,” running May 4 through 6.
The goal of the three-day festival is to highlight plays and musicals in development, giving playwrights an opportunity to hear their works read aloud and to gauge audience response. In the past, plays from the festival have gone on to become full productions at Bay Street or other theaters around the country.
Interestingly enough, back in 2006, an earlier version of Ms. Mann’s play—then called “A Seagull in the Hamptons” and set on a Quogue estate—found its way to Bay Street when Mr. Hamilton was still at the helm of the theater, which he founded along with his wife, Emma Walton Hamilton, and Sybil Christopher.
“For a number of reasons, we passed, and Emily produced it for her theater in Princeton,” explained Mr. Hamilton in a recent interview at his home in Sag Harbor. “But it’s always stayed with me. I worked with my students on it at Stony Brook Southampton and did a reading of it at the theater conference in Southampton with Emily.
“I’ve had a long relationship with this play,” he added.
Which is why, a year ago, Mr. Hamilton took Ms. Mann’s script to Bay Street’s current artistic director, Scott Schwartz, and asked him to take a look at it.
“He read the play and loved it—it’s a faithful adaptation—and he said, ‘Is there a way for Emily to see it casted with a diverse cast?’” Mr. Hamilton recalled.
“I thought, ‘I could do even better. Why don’t we make it so the diva is an African-American actress of note, and let’s create the setting in Ninevah or Azurest?’” said Mr. Hamilton, referring to two more of Sag Harbor’s historic African-American neighborhoods.
When Mr. Hamilton approached Ms. Mann and suggested that “A Seagull in the Hamptons” be shifted from Quogue to Sag Harbor and include a multi-racial cast, she was quickly on board. “I loved the idea and thought it was great,” she said in a phone interview.
This wasn’t new terrain for Ms. Mann. As the artistic director and resident playwright at McCarter Theatre Center on the campus of Princeton University, she has had the opportunity to write adaptations and direct all four of Chekhov’s great plays, including “The Cherry Orchard,” which starred a multi-racial cast featuring Jane Alexander and Avery Brooks.
“When I entered that play, I saw the American connection between the serfs in Russia who were owned like slaves were here. I decided to keep it American, and we had an amazing production,” Ms. Mann said. “The casting brought it to the American audience clearly.”
In Chekhov’s “The Seagull,” the action takes place on a country estate in Russia, where the aging owner, Sorin, is in failing health. His sister Irina, a famous actress—the diva to which Mr. Hamilton referred—has come to visit her brother and has brought along her lover, Boris, who is a renowned writer.
Also staying at the estate is Irina’s son Konstantin, a playwright who presents his experimental new play to the assembled group—it is subsequently panned by his mother, who proceeds to ridicule and humiliate her son.
To complicate matters, Konstantin is in love with Nina, the young woman from a neighboring estate who stars in his play. But Nina is in love with Boris, the mother’s writer/lover.
Meanwhile, Semyon, a schoolteacher, loves Masha, the daughter of the estate’s manager. But Masha loves Konstantin.
It’s a love triangle of epic proportions. With the machinations of the plot, perhaps setting “The Seagull” in Sag Harbor is not such a stretch after all, given that the struggles of Chekhov’s characters—be they landed gentry, misunderstood artists, disenfranchised serfs, controlling matriarchs, or those simply suffering from the effects of unrequited love—speak to a universal condition of life.
The easy way in which 19th century Russian class and social issues can be transferred to contemporary America is one of the many reasons Mr. Hamilton finds Chekhov to be so timeless and endearing.
“He’s great, because the relationships between the characters are still relevant today,” he said.
In “A Seagull in the Harbor,” instead of Russia, the setting is a former whaling village with an African-American summer community at its edges, and a Hispanic population that is hired to work on the properties of wealthy residents, even as the smattering of old-time families who remain are seeing their way of life coming to an end.
“The allusion is that Alex, the young writer [Konstantin in the original], is African-American, and that sets up the conflict between he and his young lover, Nina, who is the white daughter of a local fisherman,” Mr. Hamilton explained. “Her father is referred to as a bigot in some places in the script.”
As in the original play, Nina’s dead mother, who once owned the estate where she now lives, has left all the property to her husband, who has since given everything to his new wife.
“Nina has nothing. In our play, she may be a Havens or a Latham,” said Mr. Hamilton, referencing a couple of old Sag Harbor whaling family names. “They live in a great family house that’s completely run down.”
While the setting may be contemporary Sag Harbor, at this point, “A Seagull in the Harbor” remains a faithful adaptation of Chekhov’s original and doesn’t delve too far into the nuances and specifics that perhaps lie ahead should the project proceed.
“We’ll take a deep dive and, if we go forward, we’ll add some things to be more specific to that community, and make sure it works for the community,” Ms. Mann said. “Updating it and putting in a local time and place, right now in the African-American community, will help bring people into the center of what it’s about without tweaking the play.”
Ultimately, the truth of the “The Seagull,” whether set in Russia or Sag Harbor, lies in the characters themselves and Chekhov’s ability to create tales that transcend the years. “It’s a completely universal story. When you can make it accessible like this, it really crackles, and crosses culture and time,” Ms. Mann said. “It’s not a relic of the last century.”
“Each time I take a deep dive into one of Chekhov’s plays, I learn a lot about myself and the world we live in,” she added. “It’s very similar to working on Shakespeare—there’s one revelation after another about the human condition.”
“Title Wave at Bay Street: The Fifth Annual New Works Festival” runs Friday, May 4, to Sunday, May 6, at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor. In addition to “A Seagull in the Harbor” on May 5 at 2 p.m., the lineup includes a rock musical adaptation of “Medea” written by the theatrical rock band The Kilbanes and directed by Reggie D. White (May 4, 8 p.m.); “The Prompter,” written by Wade Dooley and directed by Scott Schwartz (May 5, 8 p.m.); and “Eight Nights,” written by Jennifer Maisel and directed by Will Pomerantz (May 6, 3 p.m.). All readings are free, but tickets are required. To reserve, visit baystreet.org or call the box office at 631-725-9500.
on Apr 27, 2018