Bay Street Theater's Literature Live Presents The Great Gatsby

Now in its 10th year, Bay Street Theater’s program that brings works of classic literature to life on stage for the benefit of students and the public alike, Literature Live!, will present “The Great Gatsby” this month.

Award-winning playwright Simon Levy wrote this adaption of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 Jazz Age novel. The story takes place primarily on Long Island’s Gold Coast in 1922.

Nick Carraway, a Midwesterner who moves to the fictional, prosperous West Egg, Long Island, is the protagonist and narrator. His new neighbors include his cousin Daisy Buchanan—who lives across the bay in East Egg—and Jay Gatsby, a millionaire known for throwing lavish parties. Nick soon learns that Jay is fixated on Daisy, who is married. It turns out that Jay and Daisy had a past romance, before Jay was wealthy, that he aims to revive.

Though Fitzgerald’s novel was not well received initially, it became a renowned work during World War II and commonplace in high school classrooms. However, the author died in 1940 at just 44 years old, before he could witness the success of his work.

A 2013 film adaptation from director Baz Luhrmann starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the title character renewed interest in the tale, and in the Jazz Age in general.

In Bay Street’s production, New York actor Charlie Westfal (“Romeo & Juliet” at Guild Hall in East Hampton) is Jay Gatsby. John Kroft (Bay Street’s “The Tempest) of New York and Sag Harbor is Nick Carraway, and Sara Carolynn Kennedy (“Hindle Wakes” and “For All My Girls” in New York) is Daisy Buchanan.

Rounding out the cast are Alexandra Kopko, Dan Fenaughty, Chauncy Thomas, Amanda Kristin Nichols, Scott T. Hinson and Stephanie Turci.

Joe Minutillo—a theater educator who previously directed “The Diary of Anne Frank,” “To Kill A Mockingbird,” “Of Mice and Men,” “The Scarlett Letter” and last year’s “Death of a Salesman” for Literature Live!—returns to Bay Street for “The Great Gatsby.” Michael Holland composed original music, Rick Sordelet is the fight director and Mike Billings is the lighting and set designer.

Public performances will be held Thursdays through Saturdays from November 8 to 17 and from Friday to Sunday on Thanksgiving weekend, November 23 to 25, at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor. Call 631-725-9500 or visit baystreet.org.