By Anisah Abdullah The Parrish Art Museum will present a staged reading of Sag Harbor writer Joe Pintauro’s “Men’s Lives” on Friday, June 17, to celebrate the play’s 25th anniversary.
The reading, directed by Emma Walton Hamilton, will work in conjunction with the museum’s current exhibition, “Radical Seafaring,” as they both tell stories of people’s changing relationship to the water.
The multidisciplinary exhibition features wide-ranging works including artist-made vessels, sculptures, performances and multimedia documentation of voyages from 25 international artists and collectives. It is considered the first museum survey of artists’ site-specific water projects on a broad scale.
“Men’s Lives,” based on the novel by Peter Matthiessen, had its world premiere in 1992 at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor. The play tells the story of how modern legal and economic challenges, overfishing and pollution have threatened the traditional way of life for East End baymen. Their means of making a living falls into jeopardy as changes in the law and the community force them to end their craft.
Mr. Pintauro is the author of more than 40 plays including “Snow Orchid” and the critically acclaimed “Raft of the Medusa.” He also wrote two novels and several volumes of poetry, and is the recipient of the John Steinbeck Literary Humanitarian Award and the Guild Hall’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Ms. Walton Hamilton, who was a co-founder and co-artistic director of the Bay Street Theater, worked as a dramaturg for the original production of “Men’s Lives,” in which she aided in its research and development. She and her husband, Stephen Hamilton, will produce the reading.
The staged reading of Joe Pintauro’s “Men’s Lives” will be performed at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill on Friday, June 17, at 6 p.m. Tickets are $10 but the event is free for members, children and students. Visit parrishart.org.
on Jun 14, 2016